Summer of the Dog
by treacletart
Summary: Forced to return home to his family the summer after his 5th year, Sirius Black gets his revenge by doing the one thing his family will despise the most: Spending all his time in the muggle world and with a muggle girl. Until there are consequences.
1. The Park at Night

**Disclaimer:** J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all of the HP characters.

* * *

Sirius Black had to get out of the house. He had only been home from school for three days and he already felt like he was crawling out of his skin. He hated it here. He hated his parents and to a lesser extent he hated his brother. There were a thousand things he would rather be doing then spending a summer at Grimmauld Place, washing Severus Snape's hair was one of them. He didn't understand why at 16 he even had to come home. He begged his parents to allow him to spend the summer at James' but they insisted he come home. He couldn't figure out why, they weren't welcoming, they could hardly stand to be around him. Maybe they wanted to impose their ways on him unbelieving that he was happy on the path that he had chosen.

He had walked in on his house-elf attempting to take down the Gryffindor flags from his room. Sirius commanded that Kreacher stop but Kreacher insisted that his mistress wanted them gone, so gone they would be.

"Mum, get him to stop."

"I shan't have such filth in my house." She responded with an upturned nose,

"Flith? This entire house is filled with filth! Have you noticed the house-elf heads on the wall? It's disgusting, mum. Really. I think you need your eyes checked."

"You are the most ungrateful little..."

"And you're the most horrid woman alive!"

So, Sirius left knowing very well that he had to come back later that night and deal with the consequences. Mainly, that his gryffindor items would probably be burned or Kreacher would be using them to clean out his grimy ears. Perhaps, mummy dearest needed some toilet paper. Sirius thought of these things but he couldn't care just then. He just needed to get out of the house. And he needed to shift.

Ever since he became an animagus he had to fight off the urge to be a dog at all times. During the full moon, it practically became instinctual. With a pang, Sirius thought of his friends who were so far away from him. He wondered if Moony was having an awful time, if Prong felt the need to change too, and if Wormtail has finally figured out how to do it. Peter had been so close to mastering it but then summer came along and ripped them all apart. Maybe Peter will learn over on his own over the summer. In September, Peter would be a confident changed boy who could change into an animal. What if they all changed? Not into animals but instead personality wise? Could that happen over the course of a summer?

Sirius was tired of thinking. Tired of human emotions. Tired of being angry with his mother and tired of missing his friends.

And so, he became his dog form and left his human concerns and problems behind as he bounded off towards the nearest park.

* * *

Evelyn Morris had to get out of the house. The summer holidays meant that her mother was driving her more crazy then normal. At least during the school year, she was gone most of the day and didn't have to hear her mother nitpicking everything about her.

"Must you always play those records so loud? Why do you listen to them anyway...If only you didn't cut your hair like that, you might find a boyfriend. No one wants to date someone who looks like a boy...Shouldn't you be at riding lessons?"

Evelyn allowed herself a cynical smile. She _did _get out of the house and away from her mother for a few hours but she was going exactly where her mother wanted her to go. Being an equestrian wasn't all bad. In fact, Evelyn quite liked horses. She had a knack for animals in which they instantly took a liking to her and often were calmed by her presence. Although Evelyn liked the horses well enough, she still had to deal with the people. And the people were dreadful. Evelyn hated the girls in her equestrian classes, they were everything she was not and often made her life hell because of the fact.

If Evelyn had her way, her summer would have been filled with guitar lessons not horse-riding lessons. The music which Evelyn's mother just couldn't understand her listening to had given her inspiration. She just felt it more then her mother could and she wanted to feel it even more through playing.

But mummy dearest had different plans.

"Why do you want to play music? Girls don't make music, Evelyn. I really wonder about you sometimes..."

Evelyn wondered about her mother too. Mostly, she wondered why her mother was so obsessed with the proper activities of a young lady. If Evelyn had to guess, she would say it was because her mother was a boring housewife and Evelyn didn't have to be one. She had choices, limited due to her mother's interruptions but choices just the same. Evelyn didn't care if girls were supposed to ride horses and not play guitar. She didn't care about the fact that she cut her hair short.

What Evelyn needed was to show the world just how much she didn't care. What she needed was to be a musician. What she needed was a guitar. What she needed was to get away from her mother to get a part-time job to pay for said guitar. What she needed...was a cigarette.

Sneaking out at night was bad but sneaking out to smoke was worse, which is why Evelyn made her way towards the park, careful to not be seen.

If only mum could see me now, Evelyn thought. Smoking a cigarette at night in a park. Alone. Evelyn lounged on a park-bench and thought of what her mother would say. How unladylike! Evelyn smirked at the thought.

Then she frowned. Hadn't she left the house to escape her mother? Why was she thinking of her now? She sighed and tried to push all motherly thought away and cast a glance at her surroundings. She was surprised to see a dog staring at her. The dog turned it's head away when she noticed it.

Evelyn dropped her cigarette to the ground and ground it into the cement with the the heel of her shoe. She let the smoke of her final drag out of the side of her mouth and sat forward leaning towards the dog.

"Come here, boy" She said softly.

The dog stood up but seemed to hesitate and turned it's head in the opposite direction as if it was pondering making an escape. This was curious behavior for a dog, even to Evelyn's standards who was used to animals treating her differently. She had to laugh at it. When the dog saw this he seemed to make his mind up and slowly walked towards her.

Evelyn slid off the park bench and down on one knee, edging closer to the dog. She raised her hand in front of her and reached slowly towards the dog head. The dog inclined his head towards her hand and she gently patted his soft fur.

"Good boy." Evelyn said, her voice adopting the tone one often uses to address animals. She pet him with more ease and reached towards neck.

"No collar, huh?" She muttered. "You must be a stray. Though you look healthy enough."

Evelyn suddenly became aware of just how healthy the dog was.

"God you're big" She said to the dog while standing up and taking in the massive animal. "You're like a horse. I could ride you."

The dog let out a low growl which made Evelyn uncomfortable. It was like the dog had understood her and was aware of how that comment could be taken in a very different context. But dogs couldn't understand humans, that was crazy.

Evelyn felt she was losing her mind. She thought she should probably get home considering she was tired enough to think that, not only a dog could understand her, but that the dog had his mind in the gutter too. She wasn't sure why she was wasting her time anyway. Although she hated the idea of leaving a stray, it wasn't like she could bring him home. Although hearing her mother's reaction to finding the slobbering beast in Evelyn's bed was almost worth it.

Almost being key. Evelyn patted the dog once more and said:"Now go home boy" before turning on her heel and walking up the pathway that would eventually lead to her house. The dog stayed where he was but let out a single bark as she walked away. She felt guilty because she knew the dog was watching her.

It's just a dog, Evelyn reminded herself and went along the curve. Maybe his owner was just wondering around this park too. As if on cue, She heard footsteps and saw a man walking towards her. The man hardly acknowledged her as he walked past. Probably looking for his horse-like dog, Evelyn thought for only a second before it became extraordinarily clear what the man was actually looking for.

The man had grabbed her shoulder from behind and had spun her around to face him.

"Gimme your money!" The man said gruffly.

Evelyn was shocked for only a moment. She was being robbed. When she was in the park alone at night. How very damsel in distress of her. Her mother would be proud. It was almost amusing...

"Gimme your money!" The man said again shaking her a bit. Evelyn snapped to her senses and realized this wasn't funny at all. This was serious.

"I said," The man said while getting closer to her face. She could see into his mouth and almost smell his rotting teeth. "Gimme your..."

Before he could finish, Evelyn jerked her knee up as hard as she could. It got the job done. The man doubled over in pain clutching his privates and making little noises of pain.

"Why you little..." He said while attempting to get upright again but before he could Evelyn punched him. Hard. Even she could feel the sting in her knuckles and was surprised at how much it hurt her. But the man had fallen over from the force of the blow and Evelyn could make her getaway.

Suddenly, the dog came bounding towards them and pounced on the man's chest. The dog was growling in the man's face. Evelyn, who had started to run away, halted and watched the scene continue. The dog was growling and snapping with his jaw while the man attempted to swat him away. It was like the dog could sense his audience and rounded his head towards Evelyn. With his sharp teeth exposed, the dog barked, not growled, at her. Evelyn was filled with the impression that the dog wanted her to run.

So she did. She turned around to see that the man had escaped from the dog and watched the two round the corner, the dog not far from the man's heels. Evelyn turned forward once they disappeared and continued to run all the way to her mum's house. Which suddenly didn't seem so bad, all things considered.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Review if you'd like, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks. I'm pretty excited about this story.


	2. Making Decisions and Plans

Sirius, in dog form, was once again snarling in the man's face. It hadn't taken him much effort to catch up with the man. The man while holding up his arms defensively from the dog's sharp teeth, had a look of pure terror in his eyes. When Sirius noted this he felt compelled to stop. What was the point? The girl was safe and had in fact been safe before Sirius joined in on the action. This man was just a muggle, What could Sirius gain by fighting him? He already knew he was more powerful, just the presence of his wand and the fact that at this very moment, he was a dog, proved that.

So, really there was no point in snapping his jaws at the man's face and growling at him. But there was a point, at least to Sirius. He was itching for adventure. He needed to do _something _and being in a fight with a man, even an awful muggle, gave Sirius some satisfaction. But he backed off and leaped lightly off the man's chest. By no means should a vicious dog be graceful, but the grace and ease in which Sirius carried himself in human form translated into the dog's motions.

The man, however, did not notice the grace of the dog. He was merely scrambling to get away from the beast, grateful it hadn't managed to do too much damage and seriously reconsidering his life choices. As if being knocked over and injured by a teenage girl wasn't bad enough...

Sirius was thinking of the girl as well. He hardly noticed her at first just thinking she was some silly muggle. Then he saw something long in her fingertips with a glowing end and for a fleeting moment he thought she was a witch performing the lumos spell. But then she raised the "wand" to her mouth and for a few seconds it glowed more brightly. Sirius smelled smoke and realized it must have been some form of a pipe, only smaller and less potent. And disposable, he noted as she dropped it to the ground. That was when he noticed that she noticed him.

His first instinct was to run but then she came forward and a beam from the strange torches muggle are so fond of lit up her face. That was when Sirius noticed that she was pretty and that she had short hair. He suddenly remembered that in his first year at Hogwarts there had been a seventh year gryffindor with short hair and he had been highly impressed with her. He realized now that that girl might have been his first crush and this was the first girl he had seen since then with similar hair.

So he wandered over towards her and let her soft hands pet his fur. Being pet was a strange sensation. It felt good but it wasn't like Sirius would let strangers touch his head and neck, maybe the exception would be a pretty girl. While his mind was here, the girl made a comment about riding him and well, if he was a human he would have laughed but as a dog it came out as a kind of growl.

But then the girl walked away and Sirius let her. He sat there for a few moments as a dog, debating if it was time to turn again and head home. Maybe if he got home now he could put a permanent sticking charm on the things on his wall so Kreacher could never take them down. Then he heard a noise, like a man yelling. He rounded the corner just in time to see the girl lowering her leg and the man keeling over in pain, the she hit him and he fell.

He was impressed. Just like a pureblood wizard, he was always taught to fight with a wand, not with his fists. That was why he enjoyed being an animagus, it gave him the opportunity to use only his strength to fight. Seeing a muggle girl cause a grown man fall to his knees with just her hand was practically cause for praise.

But the girl was gone now. Sirius turned back into a boy and looked around. No sign of her at all. He suddenly wished that he had remained as a dog, maybe he could track her scent. But then what would he have done? Stalk her? Why bother? He turned towards his home in defeat and wondered what trouble Kreacher had caused in his absence. Sirius didn't realize it but he was in a significantly better mood, he wasn't missing his friends in a way that nearly hurt or hating his mother to a severe degree and all because of a short-haired girl smoking a cigarette.

* * *

Evelyn had made a decision by the time she woke up the next morning. Facing a near-death experience (at least thats what she now considered it) made her realize that enough was enough. She was tired of making her mother happy. She was going to do what she wanted to do from now on. She was going to get a job and she was going to buy a guitar. She left the house that afternoon telling her mother that she was going to equestrian practice but instead picked up a newspaper and looked for help wanted advertisements.

Evelyn found an ad to be a waitress at a cafe. Ripping out the listing, she began to walk to the restaurant feeling like she was in the midst of a transition. Things were going to change this summer, they had to. In the back of her mind, she was thinking of how strange the previous night had been. Of course, she thought of the man who had tried to mug her but she was surprised at how her mind kept drifting back to the dog. It had been a curious dog but she couldn't quite place her finger on why.

Soon she found herself in front of the cafe. With a deep breathe and an attempt to mold her face into something like a friendly smile, she walked in. A friendly older man greeted her after she asked who to talk to about the employment opportunity.

"I'm sorry, love" He said after she asked about the job and he truly looked sorry. "But we already filled the position."

"Oh. Well, thanks anyway."

The old man smiled at Evelyn and said: "Now you can have fun like a young gal should instead of worrying about work."

"I really wanted this job."

What Evelyn didn't say but really meant by that statement was that she really wanted to break free. She wanted her own life. She wanted a job that would act like a life preserver because she was beginning to feel like she was drowning.

The old man frowned slightly and began to think.

"Tell you what," He said slowly. "My other girls are always complaining about how much work they do, Why don't you come in as a sorta helper waitress?"

"What would I have to do?" Evelyn asked getting her hopes up.

"You know, refill the coffee cups, put sugar in the bowls, bring the dishes to the sinks, little odds and ends."

"When can I start?" Evelyn asked eagerly.

The old man laughed. "Tomorrow."

So Evelyn left the restaurant plotting plans on how to get this past her mother and feeling like for the very first time she was taking a step in the direction she wanted to go in instead of what was expected of her.

* * *

Sirius, like Evelyn, awoke the next morning and decided that things needed to change. Just as he suspected, when he got home all his Gryffindor things were gone. If his family insisted on making him unhappy, he was going to make them just as unhappy. So, he headed to Diagon Alley. While there, he purchased new Gryffindor banners and flags and went into Gringotts to convert a large sum of Wizard's gold into muggle money. Sirius knew very well how anything muggle related would make his family feel.

Once back in London, he picked up a few posters of half-naked muggle girls. For one thing, he liked them. What sixteen year old boy wouldn't? And for another he knew that quite possibly, the most offensive thing imaginable was if Sirius didn't go the pureblood route and married outside of the wizard race. Sure, he was a Gryffindor and not an evil git but Sirius still had potential. He could breed little pureblood Slytherins. At least, thats how Sirius believed his mother to view him.

While waiting in line to buy the posters a magazine caught his eye. On a whim, he decided to buy it. It was about motorbikes and although Sirius was often amused by muggle inventions, even he had to admit that they looked _cool_. Imagine if I brought one of those home, Sirius thought with a laugh.

Sirius hung up his new purchases on the wall with a permanent sticking charm. He secretly hoped Kreacher would walk in on him doing it and was slightly disappointed when the ugly old bat was nowhere in sight. He wrote a quick letter to James explaining how he was going out of his way to annoy his parents. He tried not to think about all the fun James was probably having without him. He was probably playing quidditch with the other Hogwarts' kids home for the summer in Godric's Hollow.

He picked up the motorcycle magazine in order to distract himself. The more he read the more interested he became. After he read it, he tore some of the pictures out and added them to his wall which was slowly but surely beginning to be completely covered.

Sirius made a decision. He was going to buy one. He had a fair amount of gold and was convinced with a little magic he could make the motorbike even more badass. Maybe make it invisible or perhaps have it fly.

The next morning Sirius went on his quest to buy a motorcycle. He read the muggle newspaper and found a man who was selling two from his auto repair shop. Sirius found the shop across the road from a restaurant. One of the motorbikes was new and perfect and the other was worse for wear. Sirius had taken quite a bit of his family's gold in order to find some source entertainment for the summer but he knew he shouldn't take more. Therefore, the new one was out of the question.

Sirius was a charming boy and he used these charms to convince the man to allow him to buy the motorbike, despite the fact that he didn't even know how to turn one on and had in fact never even been in a car, and to allow him to work on it at the shop starting tomorrow.

So, Sirius and Evelyn were right across the street from one another and didn't even realize. Neither realized that the other had made quite impact on the other that night in the park. Evelyn didn't realize she had even met Sirius and would not have noticed him if he was right in front of her (although maybe she would have, he _was_ quite handsome) and Sirius was sure he would never see the girl from the park again. What would he say if he did? "Remember me? I was that big black dog. Say, think you can teach me how to punch like that?"

Neither cared about the other at that moment though. Both were just happy that they figured out something to do that summer. Neither was aware that their paths were about to cross again.

* * *

**AN: **If you're feeling kind, leave a review. You can even leave a mean review if you want. Thanks for reading.


	3. Breaking and Entering

Evelyn was getting accustomed to her new job. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that the old man hired her mostly out of sympathy and that she wasn't really needed. Still, the little she did was done thoroughly. She refilled coffee cups constantly and the people who frequented the restaurant had never been so caffeinated. Plates were cleared the moment a patron set the silverware down and so on but still Evelyn found herself bored quite a few times.

She found herself examining the world outside of the window more often then not. Across the way was an auto shop and she would watch the men work or watch the cars pass by counting the different colors. A couple of days after Evelyn had begun working there, a boy about her age started to show up at the auto shop working on a motorcycle. The first thing Evelyn noticed was that he was unbelievably handsome, the second was that he was kind of odd. Evelyn was old enough to know that handsome boys, though nice to look at (and Evelyn did look often) were not usually worth the trouble. Good-looking boys were mostly arrogant and usually jerks and hardly ever wasted their time with girls like Evelyn. Probably because Evelyn had brains in her head.

Still, Evelyn liked to watch him. One afternoon he was working under the hot sun and feeling sweaty and overheated, he decided to take his shirt off. Evelyn happened to be looking at the time and was unknowingly overflowing the coffee cup she was filling.

"Young lady!" The middle-aged woman exclaimed at her.

Evelyn snapped to and looked embarrassed and began to clean up the mess. Her eyes darted out towards the shirtless boy again on their own accord and the woman followed her gaze. She smiled slightly and told Evelyn she understood. Evelyn was mortified that she was behaving this way and vowed to not stare at the boy anymore.

Evelyn made good on her vow for about a day. Her boss had asked her to come in the next night. Evelyn had been hesitant, she hadn't been out at night since the almost-robbed fiasco. She wasn't exactly scared, more cautious then anything but she agreed and told her parents that she was going to a friend's house. She had about ten minutes more to her shift when the young man from across the way came in and sat down by the window.

Sirius had been working on his motorcycle for about a week. Although he liked working on it he was beginning to grow a bit restless. If only he could use magic to speed up the process. But then he wouldn't have an excuse to be out of the house for long periods of time and wasn't that partly the point?

Sirius had heard the other men talk about the crazy old man who lived in the flat above the garage. He didn't pay much attention as he suspected that they thought him partly crazy too. It wasn't his fault that little muggle things were foreign to him and led him to ask what they believed to be dumb questions. But then that day, Sirius saw the man for the first time. He was wearing robes and Sirius knew right away that he was a wizard.

He couldn't believe his luck. Sirius knew enough about the trace to know that he could get away with doing a few little spells over the summer if there was an adult wizard around. He had gotten away with things at home. So, Sirius decided that tonight he would come back to his motorcycle when no one else was about and just do a few little improvements.

To his disappointment, the wizard upstairs didn't seem to be home. So Sirius went to the restaurant across the way to wait for a light to come on upstairs. He could probably use some coffee anyhow considering he would be up late. So, he sat by the window and looked for the man, not noticing anything else.

Evelyn had a wave of panic when she saw the boy sit down. It wasn't like he knew who she was. He had never seen her before or so she thought and for the first time in her life, she was feeling timid.

"Coffee?" Evelyn asked.

The boy didn't move his gaze from the window and gave a brief nod. As she filled the mug, she thought again of how handsome boys just weren't worth it. Just as she suspected, he seemed snobbish. He wouldn't even look at her.

"There you are" Evelyn said wondering if he would acknowledge her existence at all.

"Thanks" He said and looked at her for only half a second.

Sirius's gaze was almost to the window again when his eyes flew back towards the girl. He couldn't believe it, it was the girl from the park. Evelyn was startled by the boy's attention and Sirius knew he had to say something before she thought he was a creepy git who stared girls down. Luckily for Sirius being charming was just as easy as breathing for him.

"I need as much coffee as I can get" Sirius said with a smile.

"Long day?" asked Evelyn.

"Long night." Sirius said over the top of his mug before taking a sip.

Perhaps Sirius was a little too charming because Evelyn's eyebrows shot up and she let out a tiny laugh.

"Okay then" She said in a tone that let Sirius know he was sharing a little too much.

Sirius backtracked when he realized how she had taken his statement.

"No, not like that" He said with smile. Sirius still felt like a creep, he was practically at a Snape-following-around-Lily-Evans level. He had more or less stalked her at a park and now this. He had to stop before he reached a James-following-around-Lily-Evans Level.

"You see that shop, over there?" He said indicating out of the window. "I'm going there to work on my motorbike."

"Now? At night?"

Now it was Evelyn's turn to feel like a creep. She was doing a fine job of letting him know that she maybe stalked him a tiny bit.

"I mean," she quickly covered herself. "it...it looks closed."

"It is." Sirius said with a smirk. "Not to me though."

"Breaking and entering, are we?" Evelyn said as a joke completely believing that that wasn't his plan.

"Something like that" Sirius answered with another smirk. Being a troublemaker at Hogwarts was always very appealing to girls, he completely and totally believed the same was true outside of school. Judging by the girl's face, which was smiling, she was impressed.

She seemed about to say something when a man a few tables down said:

"Miss, another refill please?"

Evelyn threw Sirius a small smile and walked over to the other man. She reflected on the boy. He hadn't been that much of a jerk but was definitely arrogant. She smiled slightly as she thought of how he thought lying about being a criminal would be impressive.

But then Evelyn's shift was up and she went into a back room to change out of her work clothes. She left through the back of the restaurant and made her way towards the front of the building, lighting a cigarette along the way. When it wouldn't light, Evelyn paused and looked up to see the boy looking around suspiciously while crossing the road. He reached the door to the auto shop and looked around again while looking up. Evelyn's cigarette lit and in a split second she made a decision. She crossed the street, the cigarette now forgotten in her hand.

"Hey," She called out.

Sirius jumped due to nerves and stowed his wand in his pocket but then was relieved to see the girl. Evelyn didn't really need to ask the question since sirius's jump answered it already but she asked anyway.

"You're not _actually _breaking and entering, are you?"

Sirius leaned against the side of the building and smirked. "Well not so much _breaking, _if all goes to plan."

Evelyn took a puff of her cigarette unsure of what to say. Sirius stared at the cigarette utterly fascinated but not saying anything or grinning like she had expected him to.

"You're actually breaking in?" Evelyn asked suddenly nervous. After all, it was late at night and she was talking to a complete stranger who was potentially a criminal.

"Kind of." Sirius answered honestly with a shrug. He watched the girl's face go through a variety of expressions.

"Are you serious?" Evelyn asked. It had to be a joke, she thought.

Sirius smiled and let out a small laugh. With a cocked eyebrow he said:

"As a matter of fact, I am. And you're name?"

Sirius enjoyed the moment as the girl's face became utterly confused.

'What does that have to do with anything?" Evelyn asked unsure of where that came from and beginning to think the boy was insane.

"My name's Sirius." He said with an almost but not quite smile.

Evelyn made a noise on disbelief and said: "Yeah okay"

"It really is, though." Sirius insisted and he looked up. "Like the star."

"Why would your parents name you that?"

Sirius sighed: "Sometimes I think they only had me in order to make my life a living hell."

Evelyn let out a bitter laughing knowing that feeling all too well.

"Yeah, I sometimes think that too." She muttered.

Evelyn looked down and noticed that her cigarette had reached the filter. She dropped it to the ground and stamped it out. Sirius was once again intrigued by it. Evelyn stared at the door.

'So?" she asked.

"So what?" Sirius asked confused.

"Are you actually going to pick the lock?"

"Pick the lock? What does that mean?" Sirius asked with a laugh.

"Nice innocent act."

Sirius didn't know how to answer since he truly did not know what she meant by pick the lock. Sirius always thought that the main difference between muggles and wizards was the lack of magic but he was beginning to see there was more to it then that.

"Why do you care?" Sirius asked realized he had to say something.

"Because I'm an accomplice now since I know about it."

"Well, I don't think you can help much with my plan." Mainly, she couldn't magic the lock open like he could.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Evelyn asked angrily. She had a constant need to prove herself and if he was implying that she couldn't do something, she would show him how wrong he was.

"You can't be much help because you're a m-" Sirius stopped himself before he said muggle but he needed to say something so he looked at her and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Girl, because you're a girl."

Sirius had no idea that he had said the wrong thing. Anger coursed through Evelyn and she resisted the urge to punch him. Being a girl meant nothing to her.

"What so girls can't be criminals?"

Sirius saw she was angry but couldn't quite figure out why. He wasn't sure what to say.

"Move over," Evelyn said as she stood in front of the door and began to look through her bag.

Sirius could faintly smell the scent of her strange pipe on her skin now that she was close. And he liked it.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked.

Evelyn had found two hair clips in her bag and she began to twist them hoping that picking a lock was as easy as people in the movies made it look.

She looked into Sirius's eyes and said cooly: "Breaking and Entering"

She stuck the pin into the lock, wiggling it and the lock clicked open.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! And remember kids don't try this at home...mostly because picking locks _is _harder then it looks.


	4. Caught in the Act

Sirius stared in amazement as the door unlocked.

"How did you do that?" He asked suddenly suspicious that she was a witch and he hadn't noticed.

"I picked the lock" Evelyn tried to say cooly but instead she sounded just as amazed as Sirius.

She was staring at the mangled hair clip in her hand and at the door and wondered if she truly just committed a felony. She looked up at Sirius and he was looking at her like he had never seen anything like her, which he hadn't. When Evelyn looked up at Sirius, she couldn't help herself and let out a laugh. He laughed too and opened the door.

"Shall we?" He asked holding the door open for Evelyn.

Evelyn didn't know what to do. On the one hand, going into an empty garage with someone who was practically a stranger wasn't the best idea. On the other, wasn't she the one who broke in? Why run now? Evelyn didn't look at Sirius but went through the door into the dark garage.

Sirius wasn't sure what he was doing either. He wanted to use magic but he couldn't do so now. He wasn't the type to let a pretty girl slip by but he was also the type to impress girls with his magic skills. He had the causing mischief thing down but so did she.

Evelyn walked into the building and tried to ignore the neon sign flashing in her head saying: BAD IDEA. Evelyn didn't do things like this. Making stupid decisions for a boy was not her thing but it was summer and she was changing and maybe a little recklessness would do her good.

Sirius followed her in and blinked as she flipped on the light switch. Evelyn's eyes roamed around the various car parts and hunks of metal.

"Want to see my baby?" Sirius asked.

Evelyn raised her eyebrows but said: "Sure."

Sirius led her to the corner and was excited for her to see his motorcycle. Surely _that _would make him look cool. He pointed to a rusted piece of metal, at least thats how it looked through Evelyn's eyes.

"That's all?" She asked before she could stop herself. She really couldn't help it though, it only had one wheel. She glanced at Sirius who stood there with his brow furrowed.

"Well, I only just started" He said shortly. "It's loads better then it was."

"Sure," Evelyn said walking away feeling a bit awkward and trying to hold back a laugh. She ran her hand lightly over a car and wondered about what she should say next. Sirius had taken a blow to his ego and was feeling significantly less sure of himself.

"I'm still new at all this," Sirius said gesturing around him. "I've never even...been..." He was going to say he had never been in a car but a noise had distracted him. Evelyn looked towards the door and heard voices too.

"Looks like a break in" Said a male voice.

Evelyn felt her stomach fall to her feet. Sirius felt like he had just been doused in cold water. Both looked towards the door and then at each other before running. Sirius pulled Evelyn into a small supply closet. They were uncomfortably close and both thinking hard. Sirius wondered how they knew, if only he had just used a spell. Evelyn was silently cursing herself for thinking that Sirius actually had permission to be here, which was the only reason she followed through because in the back of her mind she believed it. Both were thinking of how they could get out of this. Sirius was at a loss but Evelyn had a crazy idea as the men's voices were right outside the door.

Evelyn grabbed Sirius's head with one hand and pulled his head towards her. It wasn't kissing, not at all. More like mashing their faces against each other so it looked like a kiss. Evelyn was somewhat repulsed by the idea and kept her other arm between them, lightly pushing his chest away while still keeping a tight hold on the back of his head so he couldn't get away. Sirius was confused at first but then he understood. He wasn't repulsed, in fact he was lightly inhaling her scent which was a mix of coffee, smoke, and a touch of something floral. He reached his hand up towards the one that was on his chest and began to actually kiss her for about a second before the door opened.

"And what do we have here?" One of the men asked.

Evelyn thought her heart would beat out of her chest, she was so scared. She almost felt like screaming from the adrenaline of it all. Sirius turned towards the men, one was a police officer and the other was the owner of the shop.

"Sirius? Is that you?" The owner asked.

Sirius turned on the charming act and gave a smile his hand still cupped around Evelyn's. Evelyn thought of how it was now or never. She pulled her hand away from his and hit him in the chest.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed, her voice higher then usually, not exactly on purpose but it worked.

Sirius was surprised at the hit, so he didn't even have to play act. He was grateful that she didn't hit him hard, after all he knew what she was capable of.

"You lied to me!" She screeched again before turning to the men. Evelyn wondered if she was giving off the doe-eyed look because she felt it was more like crazy eyes. "He said we could be in here. I wouldn't have been here at all if I didn't think it was okay. We just..." Evelyn trailed off, unsure of what to say

"...want somewhere to be together." Sirius continued moving his glance from the men to Evelyn. She gave the tiniest nod to him to indicate he should continue.

"We...just wanted a place to snog," Sirius said with a chuckle. He threw another look at Evelyn then turned to the men. "You see, our parents don't approve."

"Wonder why." The police officer said grumpily.

Evelyn turned towards Sirius and tried to make herself look as lovesick as possible.

"It's just like Romeo and Juliet," She said in a breathless voice.

Sirius gave her a slightly alarmed look but then nodded furiously.

"Yeah. Yeah, just like that," He said, obviously having no idea what it meant. Sirius and Evelyn stared at each other and at looking at the other's expressions, they both got the inexplicable urge to laugh. Evelyn's face broke for a second before she turned away and Sirius did the same, trying to hide a smirk.

"We didn't touch or do anything, I swear." Evelyn said.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "We only touched ourselves, I mean each other"

The little bubble of laughter that was floating around in Evelyn's mouth burst out. Sirius laughed at Evelyn's laugh. The owner of the shop gave a slight half-smile and the officer remained tense.

"We're really sorry," Evelyn said and meaning it. "We won't do it again."

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble, sir" Sirius said, he too meaning it. Maybe for the first time in his life.

"Didn't want to cause trouble, eh?" Said the police officer. "Maybe you shouldn't have broken into a place of business then!"

"Relax, Officer Hunt. I can remember being that age. My girlfriend's parents _hated _me." The owner said with a smile towards Sirius and Evelyn who both gave small smiles in return.

"Didn't you go sneaking off trying to find places to snog?" The owner asked the officer. The officer held himself up straight and said pompously.

"I never broke the law to do so."

"Probably because nobody wanted to snog with you." Sirius muttered. Evelyn bit her lip in order not to laugh. Luckily, the officer didn't hear him due to the fact that the owner of the shop was informing him that he didn't want to press charges.

The officer left in a huff and Sirius and Evelyn extracted themselves from the cramped closet. The officer turned to Sirius and said sternly:

"I can't allow this sort of thing to happen again."

"Yes sir," Sirius said feeling ashamed of himself. He wasn't sure he never usually felt remorse.

"You seem like a good kid so I'll give you another shot. But if you do something like this again, I'll have no choice but to tell you to take your bike and leave."

Sirius nodded, unable to look the man in the eye.

"Now get home you two, it's late."

Evelyn felt like she just got punched. It was _late. _Really late. How was she going to explain this to her parents? At least, she wouldn't have to explain an arrest but she was still panicking. She left the auto shop at a borderline run and turned a corner. She leaned against a wall and let out a deep breath. With her eyes closed, Evelyn felt herself shaking. She broke in to a business, she was almost arrested, and she kind of kissed a stranger.

That stranger was just turning the corner and said:

"Well, that was fun wasn't it?"

Evelyn's eyes flew open as she stared at Sirius in disbelief.

"Fun? FUN? You almost got me arrested! You made me trespass! That is-"

"I made you trespass? Funny because I seem to remember you being the one who picked the lock." Sirius said the expression in a strange way considering he was still unfamiliar with it.

"You made it seem like you had permission to be there!"

"It's not my fault you weren't listening properly."

Evelyn opened her mouth to yell at him again but before she could he interrupted her.

"None of this matters now, does it? We didn't get arrested. I didn't get kicked out. And we had a bit of fun."

"I didn't have fun," Evelyn lied. Although she was worried, she had to admit she enjoyed herself.

"Not even that little bit in the closet? You know your passion may have led to a patch of my hair being ripped out." He said gently petting the back of his own head. He thought fleetingly of the last time she had her hands in his hair and the difference between human and dog was dramatic.

"Oh please. I was just trying to save us."

"Ah yes. The old snogging excuse. Very clever. Should of come up with that one myself, used it a few times at school.

Evelyn looked down at her watch. She really had to get home. Sirius was trying to think of something to say that would make her stay longer. Summer at home wouldn't be so bad if he had someone to act mischievous with, all the better if it was someone who would kiss him.

"Do you think...Could you maybe walk me home?" Evelyn asked nervously. The prospect of walking home alone after her other late night experience was more then she could handle right then.

"Why? Don't want to say goodbye to me just yet?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes and began to walk, not caring at that very moment if he followed or not. Evelyn may have been annoyed at what he said or perhaps she was annoyed by the fact that it was true. Sirius caught up with her in two strides. He had a feeling he already knew why she wanted him to walk her home but he was curious to hear it from her perspective.

"Really though," He persisted. "Why do you want me? You seem perfectly capable of handling yourself."

"Because I don't want to be alone." That wasn't what Evelyn meant at all and when Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, she quickly said:

"Okay, the other night I was out kind of late and this man tried to mug me."

"What happened?" Sirius asked curiously wondering if she would mention him.

Evelyn shrugged. "I hit him. He fell. Then this gigantic dog attacked him and probably saved me."

Sirius smiled. "I dunno. Sounds like you had it covered before the dog came along."

"I guess. That was a weird dog though."

"How so?" Sirius asked his head cocked to the side, not unlike a confused dog.

"It almost seemed...human. That's stupid though." Evelyn mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

"I don't think it's stupid. Maybe he liked you."

"Animals usually do. Anyway, here we are." Evelyn said as she stared at the gate that was in front of her house.

"Thanks," Evelyn said not quite looking at Sirius.

"For what? Almost getting you arrested? The trespassing? Or was it the snogging?" He said with a smirk.

"For walking me home," Evelyn said while she walked towards her house, hiding her smile.

"Wait," Sirius called.

"What?"

"You never told me your name," He said with a small laugh.

"Evelyn."

"Evelyn," He said slowly. He looked up at her: "Can I call you Eve?"

"No," She said with a laugh as she began walking up the stoop.

"Alright then, Goodnight Eve."

Evelyn shook her head as she walked in her house but couldn't help but to smile. Sirius was smiling too as he walked back to his house, which really wasn't far at all.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	5. The Black Brothers

**Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the reviews! This chapter is a bit different so I hope you all enjoy. **

* * *

Sirius was surprised to see his father and brother waiting for him when he got home that night.

"Where have you been?" Sirius's father sneered.

"Out." Sirius answered shortly. Regulus's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Doing what exactly?" His father asked in a disgusted tone that already showed his disapproval of any activity Sirius might partake in.

For a moment, Sirius was tempted to answer with: "Why father, I was out with a lovely muggle girl, think we'll run away together on my muggle vehicle and have lots of little half-blood children." But Sirius did not want to kill his father, since saying that would no doubt cause his father to fall down dead of shock.

"Nothing of importance." Sirius said considering muggles weren't even a blip on his father's radar.

"You missed your cousins" His father said.

"Which ones?" Sirius asked for just a moment getting his hopes up.

"Bellatrix and her husband."

"Oh." It was stupid for Sirius to think Andromeda would visit. Why would he even dare to hope it? He hadn't seen her since she got married although she did write to him every so often. Lately, she had been including pictures of her young daughter, who always looked drastically different in each one due to being a metamorphagus.

"Well I'm sure she didn't miss me." Sirius said coldly.

"You got that right" Regulus said with a smug expression.

Sirius scowled at Regulus. He was quite sure Bellatrix and Rodolphus had doted upon his bratty brother. All of the ways in which Sirius disappointed his family were redeemed by his brother.

His cousin Bellatrix and her husband treated Sirius particularly horrible, probably because they were the most deranged. His mother probably called them in to help save Sirius. But that was ridiculous because Sirius hated all of them and their ideals, but he really hated her. He took in his surroundings, the elf-heads on the wall, the family tree, the sneering expressions on his father's and brother's faces, and felt every happy thought fade away. Being in this house was like being in a room full of dementors.

He walked up the stairs and wondered how he would make it through the rest of the summer. At least he had his motorcycle. And maybe Evelyn but he couldn't see that going very far. She was a muggle, they were just too different. Sirius couldn't see past that, being a product of the environment he was raised, though he wished he could overcome it.

Being lost in his thoughts, Sirius hadn't noticed that Regulus had followed him upstairs.

"Where have you been running off to?" Regulus asked making Sirius jump.

"Why do you care?" Sirius asked with a sneer.

"Mere curiosity," Regulus said in a haughty tone. "I mean, it's not like any of your little _marauder friends_ are around here for you to run off and do whatever it is you do together."

Something seemed to snap in Sirius at this remark. Maybe it was the way Regulus mentioned his friends, as if it was a dirty word, paired with the disgusted look on his face. Or perhaps it was because Sirius missed his friends and couldn't help but to feel like he was abandoned by them. Either way he would of liked nothing more then to ring Regulus's neck but instead he spat:

"Jealous that your only friends are your little _newspaper _clippings about death eaters?"

Regulus's face twisted into fury and sputtered out: "How do you...?"

"I've seen them in your room. You disgust me." Sirius said in a furious hiss.

Regulus turned on his heal and slammed the door to his room shut. Sirius did the same.

Sirius felt like smashing things and was cursing himself for not jinxing Regulus like he should have. Regulus's downfall into the dark arts really got under Sirius's skin. He had hoped maybe Regulus, like he, would escape from all the Black family madness. But Regulus seemed to slip right in and he relished in all the supposed glory that came along with it. Sirius, now quite furious, had forgotten all about the fun he had previously in the evening or the way he had smiled his entire walk home.

* * *

Regulus Black was equally as furious as his brother. Where did Sirius get off on thinking that he was better then Regulus? Wasn't Regulus the Black brother that was making the family proud? It wasn't his fault that Sirius had lost his marbles somewhere along the line and rebelled against all his family's beliefs. No, it wasn't Regulus's fault but Regulus did have to work double to overcome Sirius's incompetencies.

Despite all their differences in beliefs, they were still brothers. Which is why Regulus pressured his parents into forcing Sirius home that summer. They didn't get the chance to bond at school, what with the differences in their houses and both being quite popular but in very different ways. Regulus thought that maybe he could be the one to get through to his brother and make him change his mind about where his loyalties lied.

But Regulus felt that this was quite useless. His brother didn't care enough about him to hear what he had to say. He couldn't even stand to be in the same house as him which was why he kept running off. This hurt Regulus in a way he didn't want to admit. He shouldn't care about his idiot, blood-traitor but he did. He still wanted Sirius to approve of him, which was ridiculous really considering the way everyone in the Black family approved of Regulus, not Sirius. The way Bellatrix had praised him and put down Sirius earlier in the night was proof of that. She had pulled him aside and told him he had the makings of a death eater. Regulus was quite smug about it until Sirius had displayed his disgust at the idea. Now, Regulus wasn't sure what he felt, besides bothered that Sirius's opinion mattered so much to him.

Maybe the opinion of Sirius meant so much to Regulus because he knew that deep down Sirius cared about Regulus in the same way Regulus cared about Sirius. Why else would he be snooping around his room? The thought filled Regulus with even more rage and confusion. He didn't want Sirius in his room, even though he himself had been in Sirius's room and thought all his pictures of muggle girls and motorcycles were dreadful. Plus, he had found a picture of Andromeda's daughter whom he had never seen. Not that Regulus cared, the girl was just a half-blood but still why did Sirius receive pictures and he didn't?

But none of that mattered to Regulus at the moment, what mattered to him was that Sirius did not come back into his room. Especially if he was going to disapprove of his ideas. Regulus grabbed a piece of parchment and made a sign. He wrote: "_Do not enter without the express permission of Regulus Arcturus Black_" and hung it up with a smirk.

That should stop Sirius from poking around where he had no business belonging. And if Sirius was going to sneak around and spy on him then he would return the favor. Regulus was going to figure out what Sirius was doing and whom he was doing it with.


	6. Mother Knows Best

Evelyn was not surprised to see her mother waiting for her when she walked into her house. After all, it was close to midnight and Evelyn had never ever been allowed out that late. She knew she was in trouble as soon as she walked in but it wasn't until she saw her mother's face that she realized how deep in trouble she was.

"Well, you've certainly been popular this evening,"

Evelyn gulped. Had her mother seen her walking home with a boy? Evelyn wasn't sure what to say.

"First, you stay out until," her mother looked at the clock on the wall. "five minutes until midnight. Then, I got an interesting phone call from your riding instructor."

Evelyn was quite certain that her stomach had fallen straight to her feet.

"And do you know what she said? She said you haven't been staying at equestrian lessons for the full hour and you've been skipping out on them altogether. After that fascinating phone call, I got another. From Jessica. Jessica, who you were supposedly out with. So, where have you been young lady?"

Evelyn was not surprised that she had been caught in her lies. She had never had to lie in her life before this week. But she certainly was practicing tonight and she wasn't so sure how much more she could do.

"Hmm?" Her mother asked. "Where have you been instead of equestrian lessons? Evelyn, answer me."

Evelyn decided to tell the truth: "I was at work."

"Work? You don't have a job."

"I skipped out on equestrian practice so that I could find a job. And I did. Which is why I haven't been staying the full hour and that's where I was tonight."

"Why on earth would you get a job?" Her mother asked startled. She seemed more horrified at the truth then any lie Evelyn might have dreamt up.

"To earn money," Evelyn stated in an isn't-it-obvious sort of way.

"What do you need money for?"

"To buy stuff," Evelyn was confused about her mother's confusion.

"Stuff?" her mother asked horrified before sinking down into her chair as if she were about to faint. "Oh my god," She breathed. "you're on drugs."

Evelyn couldn't help herself from laughing. Of course, her mother _would_ think that.

'I'm not on drugs," She said in between the giggles.

"Come here. Let me smell your breath."

"My breath?" Evelyn knew that if anything, hers would smell like cigarette smoke. Not exactly drugs but certainly frowned upon. "Tell me mum, what drugs can you smell on someone's breath?"

"All of them!"

"Really? Because last time I checked, you snort cocaine through your nose, not mouth. And you shoot heroin right into your veins,so..." But Evelyn stopped because she knew that this was the absolute wrong time for her to be a smartass.

Evelyn's mother looked so pale that Evelyn was almost sure she was about to faint.

"Not that I would know any of that," Evelyn said quickly.

"Go to your room...grounded...forever." Her mother managed to breathe out while still looking as if she were about to keel over.

Evelyn knew that she had put the final nail into her own coffin and obeyed her mother without another word.

By next morning, Evelyn knew what she had to do. She would talk to her mom about her job, she would bring her in to meet her boss, and everything would work out. Sure, it was far-fetched but it might happen. Evelyn's mom seemed to have calmed down a bit through the night and agreed to the plan.

Surprisingly, Evelyn's mother actually liked Evelyn's boss. Surely, she was expecting some creepy young man who was planning to prey on Evelyn's innocence and was quite surprised to find the kind-hearted old man. They chatted for a few minutes and Evelyn kept a polite distance, not wanting to interrupt. As was her custom, she looked across the street and with a jolt she saw Sirius. She felt panicky and prayed that he wouldn't notice her and if he did, she hoped he had enough sense to keep his distance if her mother was around.

All too soon, Evelyn was following her mother outside of the restaurant and to her dismay, her mother stopped to chat in front.

"Well, I suppose that wasn't so bad."

Evelyn nodded and waited for the inevitable complaints.

"I don't understand why a young woman like yourself should be working at all..."

Evelyn turned away from her mother, closed her eyes, and counted to three. She needed her patience because she was very close to saying something snotty. When Evelyn opened her eyes, she saw that she was facing Sirius, who gave her a slight smile from across the street. Evelyn immediately turned back towards her mother.

"...But I suppose a waitress is just as appropriate job as anything. I still don't know why you lied to me."

"Because you have the habit of overreacting and you wouldn't have approved."

Sirius couldn't hear what Evelyn and her mother were saying but he saw the unmistakeable signs of an argument. He saw Evelyn grab clumps of her hair and pull and noticed that her hair stayed stuck-up even when her hands were back down at her side, now curled into fists. He saw Evelyn's look of frustration and was quite sure that he had been making the same face whenever he was at home. Watching their argument reminded him of his own and he grew angry all over again.

Evelyn and her mother had come to something like a truce and were walking back to the car so that Evelyn could be driven to the horse stables. Her mother looked across the street and suddenly said:

"Is that an auto-shop? The car has been acting a little funny lately. Think I'll go ask..."

"No!" Evelyn said quickly. "We...we're gonna be late for equestrian lessons." She said the first excuse that popped into her head.

"We have an hour. It will only take a moment. Come on."

Evelyn's mother was already crossing the street and Evelyn followed miserably. Halfway across the street, Evelyn realized she couldn't go inside. If the owner of the shop was there, he would recognize her and he might say something to her mother. Evelyn looked around frantically, hoping for a car to hit her in order to stop the debacle that was surely about to happen.

If Evelyn was frantic, it was nothing compared to what Sirius was feeling. He had been absentmindedly wiping the grease off his hands onto a cloth when he noticed Evelyn and her mother walking towards him. What were they doing? Had Evelyn told her mother what had happened last night? Was her mother about to yell at him? Sirius had no idea how to deal with mothers. His was so awful and he never had to deal with any girl's parents because at Hogwarts, families were far,far away.

"Excuse me, do you work here?" The woman had a stern face, and Sirius couldn't help but to notice that she looked a bit like Evelyn.

"Yes." He said quickly but then Evelyn threw him a look. "No. I mean I work _at _here but I don't work _for _here."

Evelyn's mother frowned at him and gave his motorcycle a disapproving look.

"Er, Right in there is the owner, Mr. Emerson." Sirius said pointing to the very same man who had found Evelyn and Sirius in the closet the night before.

"Thank you." Mrs. Morris began to walk in the shop and turned to stare at Evelyn, when she didn't follow.

"I think I'll stay out here." Evelyn said and glanced at Sirius before she could stop herself.

As soon as Evelyn's mom walked in the building, Sirius turned to Evelyn.

"What is your _mother _doing here?"

"Apparently, something is wrong with her car."

"So you decided to bring her to the place you broke into?"

But Evelyn wasn't listening. She was keeping an eye on the people inside and hoped they didn't notice her.

"What are we going to do? If they walk out and see me and you..." Evelyn looked up at Sirius while muttering and stopped when she saw his face.

"You look like hell," Evelyn said and then clamped a hand over her mouth because she hadn't meant to say it out loud. He did look awful though, pale with big circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept at all and his hair was a greasy mess.

"Thank you and you're looking quite terrible yourself. Insane person hair works quite well for you"

Evelyn reached up and flattened it back down, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, well everytime I'm around you, I'm getting into trouble. So crazy is all you've seen of me."

Sirius smiled at how Evelyn had no idea how true her statement was. Almost mugged, almost arrested, and now attack of the mother. Seems it was nothing but trouble since the two encountered one another.

Evelyn heard the door open and quickly ducked around behind Sirius's motorcycle.

"What are you...?" Sirius asked confused. Did muggles always act so erratically?

But once again, Evelyn wasn't listening. Maybe if Mr. Emerson walked out with her mom and she didn't show her face, he wouldn't realize...but surely her mom would recognize her. She was totally screwed no matter what.

"Evelyn what are you doing?"

Evelyn was crouched down beside the motorcycle and looked up to see her mother standing there with a shopping bag looking perplexed.

"Um, Just admiring the bike, that's all."

Mrs. Morris looked slightly horrified and threw a dirty look in Sirius's direction. Evelyn could practically hear her mother's brain working: "Why is she admiring the bike? Shouldn't she be admiring the boy? That daughter of mine...I wonder..." But instead her mother said:

"Right Well, come along then."

Evelyn followed her mother, grateful that nothing seemed to have gone wrong. The owner of the shop didn't recognize her. Sirius had done nothing to show that the two had ever met...Until, she heard him say:

"See you later, Eve."

Evelyn cringed at the nickname and hoped that her mother hadn't heard.

"So, What's the problem?" She asked to cover up Sirius's farewell.

"Some oil should fix it," Her mother said shaking the bag. "We'll have your father do it." She said distractedly and didn't say anything more until they were in the car.

"Evelyn, do you know that boy?" Her mother asked turning towards the passenger seat.

"No."

"I thought he said your name."

So, she _had_ heard. "I mean I only just met him," Evelyn covered.

"I'm glad to see you meeting any boy but really Evelyn, you should stay away from that one."

"And why is that?" She asked almost defensively. Her mother had just caught Sirius on a bad day. Normally, he looked good. Really good.

"For one, he has a motorcycle, which means he's dangerous. And his hair is longer than yours. Of course, if you hadn't cut all of yours off this wouldn't be a problem but boys with long hair..."

Evelyn tuned out her mother's tirade. But hearing her rant almost made Evelyn want to confess that they had sort of kissed. Seeing how much her mother disapproved of Sirius made him much more appealing in her eyes.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. The Music Store

When Evelyn's mother said "grounded forever," she meant it. It had only been three days but Evelyn saw no end in sight. The only places she was allowed to go were equestrian lessons and work. Evelyn's mother was there to pick her up as soon as both ended and dropped her off as soon as each started, she couldn't even sneak a moment in. Evelyn now had two paychecks burning a hole in her pocket and she longed to go to the music store to check out guitars and see how much lessons were.

On the fourth day, a stroke of good luck meant that Evelyn's mother couldn't pick her up. She demanded that Evelyn come straight home after her shift and asked her when it ended. Without skipping a beat, Evelyn told her two hours later then the truth, hoping to buy herself some personal time.

While Evelyn was spending a lot of time at home, Sirius was certainly not. He spent as much time away as he could. He had taken to walking around the streets alone, sometimes as a dog other times as himself. He hadn't seen Evelyn much, just once when she was on a break. Each exchanged a small smile and a wave. Sirius figured that was all there was to it but he was growing increasingly bored and the only fun he had had all summer was with her. With that in mind he headed towards the restaurant, hoping she was working that evening.

Evelyn was refilling the salt and pepper shakers and didn't hear Sirius walk up behind her. She jumped a little, spilling salt, when she heard him say:

"Could I get a coffee with a heap full of trespassing, maybe a little bit of kissing, but absolutely no crazy mother?"

Sirius was smirking and when he saw the spilled salt, he had the inexplicable urge to take his wand out of his back pocket to perform the charm to clean it, surely it would impress her. Or terrify her. For a moment, he missed magic in a strange way that almost hurt and felt unsure of his abilities for the first time.

Evelyn laughed at his comment and replied with: "Coffee we have, we only serve trespassing on Thursdays, kissing was a one-time special, but you could have the crazy mother if you'd like."

"Nah, I already got one of those."

"Are you sure you don't want both? Maybe if they were in the same room, they would finish each other off."

Sirius laughed but then stopped when he thought of how his own mother would gladly do something awful to Evelyn's if given the chance. Suddenly, it wasn't so funny as it was tragic.

Evelyn saw the serious expression come across his face and wondered if she had offended him somehow.

"I...that was a joke. I don't want anything bad to happen to your mum," Evelyn said awkwardly.

"Nor I yours" Sirius said without looking at Evelyn and still looking thoughtful. His face softened and he turned back towards Evelyn with a grin. "She seemed just _lovely." _

_ "_Funny, She said the same about you."

Sirius grinned: "I bet she just _loved _me. What did she say?"

Evelyn faked a big sigh and said: "Well, you're dangerous..."

"Check" Sirius said matter-of-factly. Evelyn suppressed a grin.

"Your hair is much too long..."

"Maybe your hair is much too short, has she considered that?"

"Everyday, of course. Oh, and under no circumstance am I to ever ride your motorcycle." Evelyn said with a serious expression on her face which was on the verge of cracking.

Sirius leaned forward and whispered: "You can ride my motorcycle whenever you want."

Evelyn rolled her eyes but smiled: "That was awful." She said with a laugh.

"Yeah, it was. I'll have to think of something better."

"Get back to me on that." Evelyn said as she moved away to the table that she was being beckoned to.

Sirius had about a million different lines but he couldn't use any of them on her considering all of them had to do with magic. He was beginning to the sense in only marrying pure-bloods, what was there to even talk about?

Evelyn came back with a cup of coffee and handed it to him. He didn't even want it. The only reason he came into the cafe was to see her.

"When do you get off work?" He asked completely ignoring the coffee mug.

"That was the best line you could think of?"

"No, but it was the most direct, wasn't it?"

"It doesn't matter when I get off work because I'm grounded."

"For what?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Because of you." Evelyn said in an accusing tone.

"Eve, did you tell your mum that you rode on my bike?" Sirius said in a mock-horrifed voice.

"Considering I'm not locked in a tower, I'll let you figure out that one on your own."

"Can't you sneak out?"

"I can and I am." Evelyn said a little haughtily.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing exciting."

"And what would you consider exciting? Robbing a bank?" Sirius asked with a grin but before Evelyn could answer, she was called away to another table.

When Evelyn came back, Sirius looked her into the eye and said:

"Listen, wherever you're sneaking off to, take me along with you."

"Why?" Evelyn asked suspiciously, a little taken aback by his serious tone.

"Because we have fun, don't we?" Evelyn was about to answer but Sirius kept talking. "And otherwise I'd have to go home and compared to my mother, yours is a saint."

Evelyn considered what he said and somehow doubted him. Then again, every kid thought their parents were the worst of all. There was really no reason why he couldn't tag along to a music store.

"You'd be bored." Evelyn said slowly.

"No I wouldn't. Where are we headed?"

* * *

"A music store?" Sirius asked an hour later.

Evelyn didn't answer. She really regretted the fact that she had brought him along. She hadn't told anybody about her desire to play guitar, not even her best friend. So why was she sharing this moment with him? Maybe he'd become distracted by something else and she could sneak off and look over the guitars. Alone. Like it should be.

Sirius _was_ distracted by the music store. He had never been inside a muggle one before. The stacks of records, the instruments lining the walls, the rock music playing in the background: all new to him. His eyes opened wide and he rushed forward to look at the row of albums nearest to the door. There were loads of things in here that he could bring home to annoy his parents. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Pictures and posters weren't enough. He comforted himself with the fact that the muggle world was completely unknown to him; it was a brand new universe he was finally able to explore.

Evelyn had seen that look on Sirius's face before. It was the very same look he had when she had picked the lock of the auto-shop: like he was seeing something for the very first time. Maybe he was just an enthusiastic person but she had seen enough of him to know he was slightly jaded. So no teenage boy should be looking at records at the way Sirius was looking at them now. And this, Evelyn finally concluded, was exactly what frightened her about him.

Sirius looked up at her for just a moment, like he couldn't tear his eyes away from the records for too long and said:

"This is amazing!"

Evelyn herself had trouble looking away from records so she began to peruse them as well, being sure to edge closer to the guitars, so she could make a clean getaway.

"What do you think of this one?" Sirius asked her frowning slightly, record in hand.

"It's okay. I prefer their first album though."

Sirius compared the two. He wasn't so much looking for which had better music but rather which had a more obscene cover. He couldn't play them at home. Although maybe he should...He tried to imagine the look on his mother's face if he were to bring a record player home complete with albums with muggle depictions. Lost in his own thoughts, he drifted towards the players, not noticing Evelyn gliding over towards the other side of the store.

Evelyn walked the length of the wall, examining each guitar closely. But her eyes kept drifting back towards an acoustic that was placed in the middle. She stood in front of it, admiring the woodwork and noticing the shine of the strings. She felt a swoosh in her stomach that let her know that this was the one. Hesitantly, she reached one finger towards it and stroked the smooth wood.

"Why don't you take it down and give it a strum?"

Sirius had found her. Evelyn's hand flew from the guitar as if it had burned her.

"No." She said quickly. "You can't just play it, it's up there for a reason."

"Sure you can," Sirius said with a shrug as he lifted the guitar off the wall and held it out towards Evelyn. For one thing, Evelyn truly did believe she wasn't allowed to play it. There were display guitars out on the floor that were supposed to be for playing. The other was that Evelyn didn't trust herself to play on any guitar but especially not this one.

Evelyn actually physically backed away from it and almost tripped on a chair in the process. She steadied herself with her hand and just decided to sit before she fell over and destroyed the guitar.

"Go on," Sirius said with a laugh as he handed the guitar to her. It rested on her knee but she still hardly touched it.

"Are you seriously not going to play? Here," Sirius said as he bent down so that they were on the same level. He reached his own hand out and grazed the strings which made a pleasant noise. Both of their heads were bent over the guitar and when Evelyn looked up, she was much closer to him then she thought. She saw that his eyes were really more of a gray then blue and looked back down the toward the guitar and strummed the strings to distract herself. It was magnificent.

Sirius stood up, noting the awkward moment that their faces were inches apart. That shouldn't matter, Sirius thought. They had already kissed or at least somewhat kissed.

A man who looked to be in about his mid-thirties with a full beard, walked over and frowned at Evelyn.

"You can't play that," He said matter-of-factly. Evelyn's hand had just grazed over the strings and the last notes were humming into the air still.

"Come on, she's not that bad," Sirius said.

"No, you can't play these guitars. You can mess about on that one." The bearded man said as he pointed behind Sirius.

Sirius turned to look at it and then back at the man: "It only has two strings."

"So?"

"So, how are you supposed to play a guitar with two strings? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose?"

Sirius was inching closer to the man. Any excuse for a fight was fine by him. Sirius had a lot of anger pent up inside and who better to take it out on then some bearded prat?

"Shut up," Evelyn muttered towards Sirius before turning to the man and handing him the guitar. "Here, Sorry."

But the man was ignoring Evelyn. He was gazing steadily at Sirius and said:

"It only has two strings because idiots like you all come in and think that you can play," he threw a look in Evelyn's direction. "And mess them all up."

Sirius made a movement towards the man but Evelyn was one step ahead of him.

"Hang on," She said angrily, not realizing that she had stepped in front of Sirius who was growling behind her back. "it's not like I did it any harm. Maybe you shouldn't be so rude to customers. Otherwise you might have more people here." Evelyn said with a look of disdain at the nearly empty store.

Sirius gave a short laugh which seemed to anger the bearded man more than anything.

"Get out!" he said pointing towards the door.

"Gladly," Said Evelyn even though she was sad to see the guitar go.

"You know, I don't think I'm ready to leave yet," Sirius said in a rather haughty way.

"Come on," Evelyn said grabbing his arm and giving him a hard tug. The very last thing she wanted was for him to get into a fight. Sirius wasn't going to give up that easily though and Evelyn had to tighten her grip.

"Let go! Won't let him speak to you..."

"Oh, shut up!" Evelyn said irritably. "He can speak to me however he wants, it's his store!" She let go of Sirius's arm. "And I don't need _you _to defend my honor."

Evelyn marched out of the store into the night.

* * *

**Author's Note: Kind of an awkward end but the chapter was wayyyy too long so I had to find a place to split it. Next chapter will probably go up a little later.**


	8. Cigarettes and Honor

Evelyn walked out of the store feeling quite embarrassed for her overreaction and even more embarrassed that the she had been kicked out. Despite her behavior the last few days,Evelyn was normally the type to avoid getting into trouble. And where was she supposed to get guitar now? All her progress felt wasted now.

Sirius stood confused for a moment, unsure of where to direct his anger but then followed Evelyn out of the store. He wasn't sure at all if this was the right choice but it was the only one he had. Evelyn was walking down the street and it only took Sirius a few strides to catch up.

"You're mad at me for telling off that jerk?" Sirius asked.

"No, I'm not mad at you," Evelyn said calmly. "You just didn't have to fight him."

"I didn't fight him," Sirius said with cocky grin.

"You were about to."

"And? He was a jerk..."

"I'm not denying that but I had it handled."

Sirius looked like he was about to make a retort but Evelyn interrupted him:

"Look, can we just drop it? It doesn't matter."

"Fine."

The two walked on in silence. It was a warm summer evening and there was plenty of other people walking along the street. Sirius tried to think of something to say but was sure that no matter what he said, it would offend her. Evelyn tried to think of something to say but didn't trust herself. She was mortified that she had gotten so mad over something so small. Sometimes her emotions got the best of her, she couldn't help it. And Sirius made her very emotional. This wasn't something Evelyn wanted to think about, so she reached into her bag for a cigarette.

Sirius stopped when Evelyn stopped and watched her light the disposable pipe. It was still fascinating to him so he asked for one.

"A cigarette?" Evelyn asked surprised.

"Yes," Sirius said uncertainly. Was that what they were called?

He took the one that Evelyn offered and the lighter. With the cigarette still in his hand, he tried to light it. "Ouch" he muttered after he singed the tips of his fingers.

Evelyn laughed. "You've never smoked before have you?"

"Sure I have," Sirius said defensively. And he had but those was a pipe, not a flimsy piece of paper. He burned his fingers again.

"Here," Evelyn said softly taking the lighter from his hand and guiding the hand with the cigarette in it towards his mouth. She held the lighter up and said:

"Inhale."

Sirius obeyed and felt a steady stream of smoke blow into his mouth. Evelyn was standing on the tips of her toes, with her hands still by his face. They looked into each others eyes again but suddenly the moment was ruined by Sirius's fit of coughing. Evelyn's feet fell flat and her hands were now by her own mouth.

"You have to exhale," She said with another laugh. It was hard to believe that a teenage boy with long hair and a motorcycle never smoked a cigarette before and yet here he was. Maybe it was the hit of nicotine or maybe it was because she was seeing Sirius embarrassed for the first time, but suddenly Evelyn felt much more at ease. Now, Evelyn couldn't help but to admit that she did have fun around him.

Sirius hated the cigarette. He thought he would look as cool as Evelyn did when she smoked but he just looked like an idiot. He always looked cool, it took effort for him to look this foolish. Stupid muggle inventions, he thought pitifully.

"Inhale then exhale," Evelyn reminded him.

"I got it," He said irritably, taking a drag and suppressing a cough.

"I can't believe you've never smoked before," Evelyn said with a sound of wonder. What planet had he come from?

"I must be a bad influence on you." Evelyn said with a sly smile.

"Depends on who you're asking. My mother? Absolutely. My friends? Not even close."

"In with the troublemaker crowd?"

"You have no idea the kind of trouble me and mates get into. None. It would shock you."

"Yeah? Try me."

Sirius couldn't think of an answer. He had caused plenty of mischief but none that she could know about. The best he could admit to would be sneaking around the school, and that was even impressive for a place like Hogwarts. He took a drag of the cigarette to buy himself some time. A successful drag because he blew the smoke back out without a single cough.

"Hey, I did it!" He said.

Evelyn had to laugh at him, there was something so endearing about his shame and then pride in smoking for the first time.

"Congratulations." She said while stomping out her own. She was so close to admitting to him that she found him absolutely adorable in that moment. But then a man's laughter interrupted her thoughts. They had been standing next to a pub and she hadn't realized and apparently, they had an audience.

"Why don't you find a real man who knows how to smoke instead of this git?" The drunk leered at Evelyn.

The urge to fight snapped quickly into action in Sirius. Did the universe understand how frustrated he was and was purposely trying to test his limits? Or was he just looking for a fight anywhere he could find it? He didn't realize it, but he was emitting a low growl from the back of his throat and he took a step forward. Again, Evelyn grabbed his arm and stepped in front of him.

"I found a real man, thanks." Evelyn said as she let go of Sirius's arm and wrapped her arm around his waist, mostly to hold him back but it had dramatic effect as well.

"That's what you think now," The man said.

Sirius took in the man's appearance and thought of what a wasted effort it would be to fight him. He looked shabby and was probably old enough to be his father.

"And I bet you think you're a real man?" Sirius said.

"Suppose I do."

"And how do you measure real? In years? or in worth? Because you have an abundance of one but you're severely lacking in the other."

"You're just a weak little boy."

"And your just a powerless _muggle._" Sirius spat the word out in a way that would of made his mother proud.

The drunk old man and Evelyn both looked confused. Sirius felt horrified that he had succumbed to such an insult. He had a million other things that would of been better then muggle but at the time that felt the most powerful.

"What did you say to me?" The man asked confused on what exactly muggle meant but not confused on the way in which Sirius meant it.

Evelyn had no idea what muggle meant either. Maybe it was some slang word. She did know that it was getting dangerously close to the time she told her mother her shift ended, meaning she had to get home. She was in a bad position. She needed to go but she couldn't just leave Sirius. She had a terrible suspicion that he could of killed the man without even trying.

"Just like I thought. Can't even prove yourself."

"He doesn't have to prove himself to _you_," Evelyn piped up hoping she could get them out of there. "He already proves himself to _me_. Ev-ry night." With each of the last syllables she walked her fingers up towards his neck hoping that he understood her intention. They had play-acted before to get themselves out of a tight spot, why shouldn't it work again?

Sirius's furious expression wavered and it was replaced by amusement. Evelyn was relieved to see the same playful expression she had seen when they were in the auto-shop.

"Why don't you prove it right now?" Evelyn's hand was still by Sirius's neck so she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled slightly well dragging him away.

When they reached the end of the block and Evelyn was sure Sirius's anger had mostly passed, she let go of him. Sirius reached up to adjust the collar of his shirt which had been stretched out by Evelyn.

"You know, you use my body to get out of trouble a lot," Sirius said grumpily.

"I wouldn't have to, if you didn't try to fight everybody," Evelyn replied as she crossed the street.

"You should have let me fight him."

"Why? Because he's a-what did you call him? Muggle? What is that anyway?"

"It's just a word. It's nothing."

"He wasn't worth the fight."

Sirius agreed although he didn't want to. He was thinking like a wizard, mainly that fighting a muggle would be below him, an effort wasted, dishonorable...honor. Sirius grinned.

"How could I ever express my gratitude for you?" He asked gravely.

"What?" Evelyn asked confused.

"My thanks for the way you defended my honor. Putting your full faith in my manliness like that. Having one defend your honor deserves only the fullest praise and gratitude."

"Ha Ha" Evelyn said beginning to feel the mortification of her earlier rant all over again.

"How could I ever make it up to you?" Sirius continued

"Hmm, how about no more fights next time?"

"Next time?" Sirius asked with one eyebrow raised.

Evelyn avoided the question: "How is it even possible that you almost fought two men in one night? There must be a full moon..."

"What makes you say that?" Sirius asked sharply.

"Just that it's unusual to fight this much."

'I've done worse." Sirius said matter-of-factly. The full moon comment reminded him of his friends and the damage they would have done had they been with Sirius. But his friends weren't here, just Eve. "But _next time, you_ should fight two girls, just to even things out."

'I don't think so. I don't believe much in fighting." Evelyn said with a shrug.

"But there are some things worth fighting for." Sirius said stopping.

"Like proving your manliness to drunks?" Evelyn said who continued to walk. They were only a block away from her house.

"No," Sirius said slowly following her. "Like for your friends or to do the right thing or to stop those who do bad."

The answer surprised Evelyn who had been expecting another joke. They were stopped in front of her house now.

"All honorable," Evelyn said softly lost in her thoughts of what she considering worthy of fighting for.

"There you go again, defending my honor," Sirius said even more softly then Evelyn. For the fourth time, that evening they were standing extremely close to one another.

"Don't get too used to it," Evelyn said glancing up and noticing a smile beginning to form on Sirius's face. Evelyn leaned upward and placed her hands on his shoulders. She kissed his cheek softly and whispered: "Goodnight, Sirius" as she pulled away.

The only thing Sirius felt was her hand on his shoulder and her soft breath against his cheek. All fights, all wizarding wars, all friends, all family, all everything else disappeared. He couldn't understand why, they had touched before, but he suspected it had something to do with the way she said his name. He reached out blindly and managed to find her wrist with his hand as she walked away.

"Do you work tomorrow?" He asked in a whisper.

Evelyn nodded. Sirius moved closer.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Sirius leaned down and kissed her on the cheek and moved his head to her ear before whispering: "Goodnight, Eve."

Now it was Evelyn's turn to feel nothing but his breath against her ear or the way his slight scruff scraped against her cheek as he moved towards her ear. And by the time she came to her senses, he was already halfway down the street.


	9. Stalker

Regulus Black was more determined then ever to figure out what Sirius was up to. Sirius came home somewhat late at night and looked as if he'd been hit with a bludger or that a mountain troll had managed to give him a few good knocks. He had a stupid dazed expression on his face and not even Kreacher could shake Sirius out of his stupor. Regulus had seen that expression before. It meant that Sirius had found a new obsession, something he was smug about. And Regulus was more determined then ever to figure out what it was. Regulus knew that whatever it was Sirius was up to, it was below Regulus. He knew he shouldn't care about his brother's activities, but he just couldn't help himself.

So the next day, Regulus followed his brother. Regulus was a seeker, being stealthy and sly were second only to breathing to him. So he was quite sure that Sirius had no idea that he was being followed. Regulus followed Sirius to an auto-shop and saw him messing about with a muggle vehicle. So this is what Sirius has been up to, playing around with silly muggle inventions! With disdain, Regulus noted that Sirius did all of this without any magic. He watched as Sirius took the better part of the day, cleaning and polishing a piece of metal. And he looked _proud _of his accomplishment when the useless piece of metal gleamed. It would have taken Sirius less then a minute to do that with a cleaning spell. He should be proud of _that _not the borderline barbaric methods muggle were forced to resort to.

Worst of all, Sirius seemed to be friends with the muggles around the shop. Regulus was quite sure that he would vomit up the eggs Kreacher had fixed him for breakfast when he saw one of the muggle men put his hand upon Sirius's shoulder in a fatherly fashion. Sirius looked back at the man with _respect _in his eyes. Sirius didn't respect anyone, Regulus knew that, but here he was respecting a mere muggle. _Muggles, _the subservient filth of the earth.

This was how Sirius decided to spend his time instead of with his brother? Sirius was a lost cause and with that in mind, Regulus returned home to Grimmauld Place where people were worthy of him. And try as he may to forget his muggle loving brother, Regulus couldn't erase the look on Sirius's face when he looked at the man. Sirius had once looked at Regulus like that, with appreciation and affection, but it had been years ago.

* * *

Sirius was nothing if not an expert on sneaking around and to be specific, sneaking without being caught. He knew all the tricks which was why it only took him half a block of walking to realize his brother was trailing him. Sirius knew that Regulus wouldn't have dropped their little argument so easily. If Regulus was going to follow him, Sirius was going to give him something worth looking at.

Sirius thought of the most meticulous work he could do on his motorcycle and made it a point to not even use a drop of magic. He knew that acting like a muggle would disgust Regulus the most, disgust his family the most. Sirius was overly friendly to all the other men that worked in the shop, so Regulus could see that wizards and muggles could relate. Sirius couldn't wait until he went over to the cafe to see Evelyn, the look on Regulus's face...

But the thought stopped short. Why should he share Evelyn with his bratty brother? She was like a secret to Sirius and surely the moment he told, it would all get spoiled. The night before, Sirius must have at least fifteen times grabbed a parchment to send a letter to James or Remus or even Peter to tell them what he has been up to only to stop with the quill dripping ink on to the blank page. He didn't want to tell. It was so delicate and he was almost sure that his friends' opinions would ruin it. He could hear their reactions. James would say: "Well done, mate!" with a few cheeky comments, Peter would be highly impressed: "A muggle? She's a muggle, Sirius?" with his watery eyes wide, Remus would look concerned: "You should be careful considering your family. And if you're only interested in her to annoy your parents...that's not fair to her, Sirius."

Sirius's thoughts shifted again. _Was _that the reason he was interested? No, he convinced himself. No he thought, I'm interested because she's tough, she doesn't get scared off easy, she can take a joke, because she smells nice and because she is just so different, she belongs to another universe. Yes, Sirius thought, that was why he was interested and he snuck a look towards the cafe and tried to look for her surreptitiously so not to rouse Regulus's attention. He thought he saw her with her hair stuck up in a rebellious way but he couldn't be sure.

And he would never be sure, at least not today, he thought with a sigh. Today was about calling out Regulus on his crap stalking skills. He gave Regulus about a five minute head start while he finished up his day's work on his motorcycle and by using an alleyway, he caught up to Regulus in no time. Sirius snuck up behind Regulus and put his arm around his shoulders:

"Fancy seeing you here, Reg. Better be careful that none of your friends see you, baby bro. Or else they won't let you join their little club." Sirius sneered.

Regulus jumped in surprise and looked angry at being caught.

"How did you find me?"

Sirius let out a short laugh. "You're certainly not my first stalker. In case you haven't noticed, girls love me. I have all kinds of stalkers at hogwarts."

Regulus unfortunately did know all about Sirius's stalkers and hated being compared to those ditzes.

"I wasn't stalking you."

"No, just following me around, trying and failing to sneak after me."

"I didn't fail! I was after you all day. It took you this long to realize."

Sirius laughed again: "I knew all along. I happen to be an expert on sneaking and not being found, something that apparently doesn't run in the family."

Regulus, annoyed at being caught, walked faster to get away from his brother. Sirius grabbed his shoulder suddenly and pulled him back. Regulus saw muggle cars zooming by where his foot had been moments before.

"Look you idiot," Sirius said. "You stop when the cars go."

Regulus was getting increasingly annoyed, especially now that he was in his brother's debt.

"Stupid muggles," Regulus muttered.

"Stupid? Just because you don't have any common sense..."

"I don't waste my time with muggle nonsense, unlike you." Regulus hissed.

There was a gap in the traffic and Regulus crossed the street. Sirius followed.

"And yet you waste your entire day watching me, what was it? 'Wasting my time with muggle nonsense?'"

"I was trying to see what you were up to."

Sirius shrugged. "Now you know, feel better?"

"Better?" Regulus spat. "How could I feel better knowing my own flesh and blood prefers the muggle world?"

Sirius groaned. "You sound just like mum."

"I should tell mum what you're doing!"

"And what's she going to do? Don't worry Reg, she already thinks I'm a blood-traitor and you're still the favorite..."

Regulus and Sirius had reached their house and Regulus bounded up the steps. As he reached the door, he turned to face Sirius and sneered:

"Alright then, if not mum maybe someone else...Perhaps a cousin, like Bellatrix."

Sirius felt like his brother had slapped him. Telling Bellatrix anything about muggles was as good as asking politely to be tortured. If Bellatrix found out about his motorbike, she'd be angry but if she was to find out about Evelyn...

Sirius pushed Regulus against the door and pinned Regulus's throat with his hand.

"Don't you dare." Sirius said, his voice deadly.

Regulus was surprised by Sirius's reaction but had a retort.

"Why Sirius?" He said his voice sounding weak from the strain. "Have something to hide?"

Sirius let go because Regulus was turning purple.

"No, of course not." Sirius said cooly, moving his hair out of his face. "You already saw my secret."

Sirius walked into the house, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Regulus was too dense to realize that Sirius's reaction was way too dramatic and was caused by something other then a bike. Yeah, Sirius thought, he'll just think I feel strongly about my bike, we'll be fine.

But the damage was already done. Regulus wasn't a fool. He knew that there was more to Sirius then what he had seen.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! And thanks to everyone who leaves reviews, I really appreciate it!**


	10. The Grim

"Hey! New girl! Special request for you at table five!"

Evelyn didn't need to look to know that it was Sirius at table five. After all, she had very childishly avoided him and made the other waitress go over there. She didn't want to be so childish but she couldn't help it. She had waited for him all yesterday, she even styled her hair into a sort of feminine mohawk thinking he'd appreciate it. And he didn't show. She tried to convince herself that maybe she misheard him and by tomorrow he meant the day after tomorrow. But she wasn't convinced. He had obviously spent the day with some other girl. Not that she should care if he was with another girl. It's not like they were a _couple _more like partners in crime and it wasn't like she cared about him. Or at least that's what Evelyn told herself.

But despite all her personal feelings, she knew she had to do her job. So she walked over with her head held high and tried to maintain whatever dignity she had left. She didn't have to be such a _girl _and get her feelings all hurt because of some stupid boy.

"Hey," He said with a smile when she walked over.

"What can I get for you?" Evelyn asked, carefully not looking directly at him.

"You always _get _me in trouble, so the real question is what kind of trouble?"

Evelyn didn't have the patience to deal with him being charming. It would take a lot more then a witty comeback to get back into her good books.

"Are you going to order something or not?"

"Coffee," Sirius said slowly and Evelyn turned away to get his cup, proud of herself for acting so indifferent.

"Hold on, Eve," He said reaching for her arm.

"My name is _Evelyn!" _She said shrilly and a lot louder then she meant to, drawing the eyes of the people at the nearby tables. "Sir." Evelyn added in lamely so as to not seem rude.

Evelyn filled the mug and brought the coffee over in a huff.

"Thank you, _Evelyn."_

Evelyn slammed the mug of coffee down so hard that half of it splashed out onto the table and on to the arms of Sirius and herself. Feeling guilty and silly, she grabbed a bunch of napkins and began to clean the mess. Sirius grabbed a napkin and wiped the hot coffee off his arm and then looked up at Evelyn. She was blushing.

"Evelyn," He said softly, testing the waters to see if she would half-attempt to burn him to death again. It seemed like a good sign that she didn't say anything and just continued to sop up the mess.

"I know a thing or two about girls and it seems you're angry with me for some reason. Your hair looks the same and it's already pretty short so that rules out not noticing a haircut..." Sirius stopped when he realized he was the only one grinning.

Evelyn was feeling too stupid to smile. So, he had been out with a girl. At least that was what Evelyn thought his knowing things about girls meant. Why should Evelyn care if he was? She was being stupid, stupid and over-dramatic and acting just like a girl. And since she was already there, she might as well continue.

"You," Evelyn took a deep breath and then looked at Sirius before she lowered her voice and continued: "You said I'd see you yesterday and then you never showed."

"Oh," Sirius said completely unperturbed, "That. I forgot I had to spend the day with my brother."

Sirius had been expecting something much worse. Home life made him think everything was doom and gloom.

"All day?" Evelyn asked skeptically.

"More or less," Sirius shrugged while adding sugar to what was left of his coffee.

"You don't have to lie to me," Evelyn said, her voice was soft but her words were sharp.

"What makes you think I'm lying?" Sirius asked. This disturbed him more then Evelyn's anger. He was a good liar. How could someone who had known him for so short a time catch him in a lie?

"I saw you working over there," Evelyn nodded out towards the window. "Alone. Without a brother."

"He was there. Just attempting to hide."

Evelyn made a disbelieving noise and was about to walk away again. Why should she even bother wasting her time if he wasn't going to respect her enough to tell the truth? Or even come up with a convincing lie?

"Fine," Sirius spat finally. "He was spying on me." He admitted

"Why?" Evelyn asked surprised enough that her anger seemed to disappear.

"Because..." Sirius cast around for an idea and one came easy. "Like you, I'm not really supposed to be out."

It wasn't a lie. Not really. If Sirius had just finished that sentence with "...in the muggle world," It would have been the complete truth.

"So, you're grounded?" Evelyn asked slightly amused. "You could have told me that." Evelyn still felt like she was still letting him off too easy. She always had a difficult time remaining angry at anyone.

"Like you could have told me yesterday. It would have taken two minutes." She said still a little angry.

"My brother was there to keep an eye on me. I couldn't have. Though I wanted to." He added in as an afterthought. Which wasn't a lie either. He did want to see her but Regulus got in the way.

"Fine." Evelyn said, accepting this though she didn't know if it was the truth or a lie. "Well I'm still grounded too so I guess this is it. Unless, will you be over there later?"

"Should be."

"Maybe I can sneak over for ten minutes or so?" Evelyn said unsure if he wanted her there and suddenly feeling unbearably vulnerable.

"My pleasure," Sirius said with a smile. And as Evelyn walked over to the next table he added:

"Just don't come armed with hot liquids," as he fished an ice cube out of his water glass and put it on the little red burn that had appeared from the angry coffee slam.

* * *

When Evelyn got off work she figured she only had maybe ten minutes or so before her mother appeared like the wicked witch in a fairy tale coming to lock Evelyn away in her tower. She walked across the street to find Sirius working hard on his bike.

"Hey," Evelyn said slightly unsure that he was listening. Evelyn knew how boys could get once they were working on something, nothing else existed.

"Hey," He said not looking up from what he was doing. "Could you pass me a rag?"

Evelyn cast her eyes around and rested them upon a stool with a dirty rag and a bag upon it. She grabbed the rag and threw it to Sirius but knocked the bag over in the process. A book fell out of it. Evelyn bent down to pick it up and as she was about to place the book in the bag, she stopped short staring at the cover.

She knew that dog. Maybe not knew personally but she had seen it. Evelyn read the title: "The Grim and Other Death Omens." Her throat suddenly felt dry. Death Omens? Evelyn was a superstitious person and she had never heard of this "grim." Moments after she had seen a giant black dog, like the one on the cover, she was nearly attacked. Was she supposed to die that night? Was she on borrowed time?

Sirius was wiping the oil off his hands with the rag when he saw Evelyn staring at a book. To his horror, he realized it was _his _book. He had performed a tricky little charm that made the pages of his motorcycle manual look like the pages of his divination textbook to anyone but him. He had taken a few extra precautions with Regulus snooping around. Evelyn made a move like she was going to open it before Sirius grabbed it out of her hands.

"Don't read that garbage," He said quickly. The last thing he needed was a muggle reading one of his magic books.

"Garbage?" Evelyn asked. "It's yours, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. But I don't believe any of it."

"Then why do you carry it around?" Evelyn asked amused at the defensive attitude Sirius had.

"My...my family is interested in that sort of stuff," Sirius said, again not really lying. His family _was _into fortune telling and other magic.

"So you must know a thing or two. Tell me more about the grim." Evelyn pleaded with a slight sense of urgency which Sirius didn't pick up on.

Sirius stared at the cover and shrugged. "It's not real but supposedly you see the grim and and die not longer after."

"I've seen it," Evelyn said blanching at the thought.

"You have, have you?" Sirius said with a laugh.

"Yes!" Evelyn was now the defensive one. "One night at a park! And moments later, I almost got attacked!"

Sirius stopped laughing but was still smiling. She thought he was the grim.

"It all makes sense," Evelyn muttered and she began to pace back and forth. "I almost got attacked, then we almost get arrested, then I get grounded, I got kicked out of that store ruining my chances at getting my guitar, we almost fought that guy on the street..."

"Well when you put it that way, You're life really has been nothing but trouble since you met me."

"Not you! The grim!"

"Thank you" Sirius said.

Evelyn stopped pacing and stared at Sirius having no idea what he meant.

"What?"

"Well you made a point to differentiate meeting me and all the other bad stuff that's going on. Which leads me to believe you're happy you met me. So thank you, I'm glad I met you too" Sirius had the familiar arrogant smile on his face.

"I...that is not the point." Evelyn said flustered. "The point is I'm doomed."

On the word doomed, Evelyn looked right at Sirius and he saw genuine fear on her face. Sirius couldn't help but to think that she had no idea how doomed she might be with him.

"No," Sirius said firmly as if speaking it would assure that nothing would happen. "You're not doomed, Evelyn. Maybe you did see the grim but,"

Evelyn let out a distressed little noise at this and Sirius strode over and put his hands on her shoulders.

"But I don't think that dog is what you think it is. I don't think that he wants you to die or wish any harm on you at all," He hastily added. "It's not real, you're not doomed, you're not going to die," His voice was quiet but he said all of this firmly, almost defiantly as if he was daring something to try.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure you could take on that dog and defeat him, easy."

Evelyn laughed and finally felt not so anxious. It was silly to be so superstitious. She wasn't dead yet and Sirius was right, she wouldn't go down without a fight. At Evelyn's laugh, Sirius gave her shoulders an encouraging little squeeze. She looked at his hands as if she just noticed them. Sirius looked at her and teasingly said:

"This is the part where you push me away and tell me you can take care of yourself."

Evelyn laughed again and surprised Sirius by wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug.

"Thanks," Evelyn whispered as they pulled slightly apart. Their arms were still loosely around one another and both were sure they were about to kiss but then Sirius quickly let go.

"Speaking of death omens, I think that's your mother."

Evelyn quickly turned around and saw her mother parking in front of the cafe. She didn't look like she was in the mood for murder, which lead Evelyn to believe that she hadn't seen her and Sirius.

"Later," Evelyn said quickly as she snuck back across the street unseen by her mother.

Sirius watched her get into the car and drive away and just for a moment thought that maybe Evelyn was right and they were both doomed.


	11. Stargazing

Sirius Black was laying down in the grass, staring at the stars. Not the he particularly wanted to. Looking at the stars reminded him of Astronomy class which reminded him of Hogwarts which reminded him of his friends. He didn't like to think about them because he missed them. He missed Hogwarts since it was much more of a home to him then his real house ever was. Gazing at the moon wasn't a novelty to him like it was to other people. The moon just reminded him of his best friend's affliction, his own achievements, and the people whom he cared about the most but hadn't seen in weeks.

So, Sirius was not so thrilled with staring at the stars but he still he lay there against the cool grass because of the girl lying next to him. Evelyn didn't study astronomy at school. She didn't believe werewolves existed and if Sirius told her he could transform into a dog, she would of ran away or maybe committed him to an asylum. Evelyn didn't know that there was a school who taught young witches and wizards how to do magic, magic didn't exist in Evelyn's universe, so she was quite content to be sitting there.

"Why are we here again?" Sirius asked, turning his head so that he was facing Evelyn.

"Because I didn't want to go straight home after work since I'm finally not grounded and you followed me here." She answered, still looking up.

"But couldn't you think of something better to do?"

"Aren't you named after a star? Not fond of your namesake, I see."

"Well my parents named me and I'm not particularly fond of anything they do."

Evelyn laughed and Sirius finally tuned away from her looked back up towards the summer night sky. They sat in a comfortable silence.

"Vega is bright tonight," Sirius said after a few minutes.

"Which one is that?"

"In the Lyra constellation,"

"Sorry?" Now Evelyn had turned towards Sirius. He pointed up and said:

"See that triangle? The bright one at the top." Evelyn searched the night sky and finally found it.

"How do you know that?" Evelyn turned her head to face him again and he looked at her too.

"You said yourself I was named after a star, wasn't I?" He said with a smile.

"Are your parents some sort of...?" Evelyn couldn't think of a word. "Witches" came to mind but that didn't seem quite right. "I mean they study death omens and stars, It's just...odd." She was unsure if she had offended him even though it seemed like he really hated his family.

"Yeah, odd. I guess you can say that." Sirius was looking skyward again, feeling uneasy. He knew that sooner or later they would venture into uncharted territory and he would have to talk about his life. He had no idea what he could say to her.

"They didn't teach me about stars, though. I study astronomy at school."

"School?" Evelyn laughed. "What kind of school is that?"

"A special one," He answered feeling uneasy again.

Evelyn turned her head towards the sky. That was exactly the kind of answer she didn't want to hear. Was he insane? What sort of special school? She didn't want to know.

"You scare me a little bit sometimes," She said slowly, almost against her will but it had to be said.

"Yeah?" Sirius asked as he propped his head up on his elbow and stared at her more intently. "How so?"

Evelyn felt even more uncomfortable now. She stared steadily at the night sky, afraid to look at him. There were a million reasons why he scared her. The way he was looking at her now scared her, his face scared her because it was so handsome, the way her heart was beating scared her, the trouble they got into scared her, how emotional she got around him scared her, the way she enjoyed spending time with him scared her, the fact that moments before every nerve in her body was aware of how close his hand was to her and how she ached to hold it, scared her.

"You're just different. The way you act, the things you say or know or don't know, it's odd."

Sirius lied back down and stared at the sky and was unsure if he wanted to ask the question that was burning inside of him.

"Would you be here right now if I wasn't so different?" He finally asked. This mattered to him because he himself suspected that that was the reason he was with her. There was more to it, he was sure of it, but it still bothered him to think that maybe he was only there because she a muggle.

"I'm not sure," Evelyn said honestly. "I'm not sure of anything when it comes to you."

"The feeling is mutual," Sirius said. Evelyn glanced at him sideways to try and read his face.

"You scare me too," He said quietly after a moment. Evelyn was sure that he meant it by the way he was concentrating so hard on the sky.

Evelyn was tempted to tease him about how she wasn't scary at all but tonight was different. Something about the stars and darkness had made this a serious moment. Something had shifted. Their gradual slope from strangers to something more had taken a sudden downward plunge. They were speeding towards something neither of them knew, something they both felt unsure about but neither of them wanted to stop.

"Why?" Evelyn asked softly, scarcely daring to breathe, still so aware that his hand was right next to hers.

"Because you're different too. You constantly surprise me. I hardly ever know what to say to you."

"You do a pretty good job," Evelyn said turning towards him again. He turned towards her too and smiled. Finally their hands met and with their fingers interlocked, neither could tell who had made the first move.

They both turned towards the night sky again and Sirius named the stars and constellations he knew while pointing them out.

"Which one is yours?" Evelyn asked.

"Mine?"

"Sirius. The dog star, isn't it?"

Sirius pointed it out and though Evelyn didn't say anything, her heart beat a little faster when she saw that it was the brightest one.

"Why did they name you Sirius? Did they conceive you while stargazing or something?" Evelyn joked.

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "I'd really rather not know. But it's sort of a family tradition. My brother is named after a star too, Regulus. Cousin named Andromeda and so on."

"That's cool."

"Maybe to you but you're not the one who has to hear a million jokes about it."

"It suits you."

"Why because it's odd and I'm odd?" He teased.

"No. The dog star. You're kind of doglike." Sirius sat up again and looked at her. She couldn't know. There was no possible way she could know.

"Like right now," She continued. "I noticed you kind of tilt your head to the side when you're confused, just like a dog."

Sirius laughed. "And your laugh, it almost sounds like a bark. Not to mention, you follow me around like a loyal golden retriever."

"You're right," Sirius said as he settled back down on the lawn. "I am a dog."

For a moment, Evelyn thought of the expression "dog days of summer" and how fitting it was. Her summer was filled with days spent with this dog-like boy.

"Probably the first and last time my parents had the right idea, naming me." Sirius said bitterly, rousing Evelyn out of her thoughts.

"Why do you dislike them so much?" Evelyn asked quietly. Sirius's hand tightened a little bit, unnoticed by him. He stared at the sky and thought about how to answer.

"They're...old-fashioned." He finally said. Which was true, who cares about who's pure-blood and all that garbage? "And they hate me because I call them out on their outdated ideas and how ridiculous they are."

"I'm sure they don't _hate _you," Evelyn said giving his hand a little reassuring squeeze.

"No, they do. I'm a disappointment because I broke all their stupid traditions."

"All parents are like that though," Evelyn insisted. "They all want their kids to be perfect or to be just like them but then we grow up and we're different and our own person. And I think it just scares them. I think I scare my mum sometimes just because she doesn't understand me or my ideas."

Sirius frowned slightly as he considered her words. She had a point but he still felt like it was more extreme in his case. He had seen Evelyn's mother, she just seemed the nagging type not the kind of woman who was truly disgusted by her own child. Thinking this suddenly made him a bit sad.

Evelyn sat up and stared down at Sirius.

"Listen," She said. "I don't know why you're parents are disappointed in you or what sort of traditions you broke. But whatever it is, it's stupid. You seem like a great person, despite all the law-breaking."

Evelyn ended with a little smile and Sirius returned a weak one. Sirius was staring at her though and he noted how fiercely she had spoken and how kindly she had meant it. He sat up and leaned forward to kiss her.

Evelyn knew that it was coming but hadn't expected it just then. It took her a moment to respond. The hand that wasn't holding his reached up into his hair, while his rested on the back of her neck. They parted, each breathing heavy with their foreheads resting against one another.

"Thanks," Sirius said gruffly.

Evelyn smiled. She knew he was probably thanking her for her kind words but she was thanking him for something different.

"Thank _you," _She said as she pulled him closer and kissed him again.

The stars shone forgotten above them. Everything else was forgotten. Suddenly it didn't matter that they were so different or that they scared each other, all that mattered was the here and now and all of the unspoken things they were expressing to one another.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	12. Friends and Enemies

"So what's his name?" Jessica asked as the two girls stood currying their horses after practice.

Evelyn looked at her friend for a moment and then responded with: "Did you fall out there when I wasn't looking? This is Stormy, he's only been my horse for oh, 8 years or so." Evelyn placed a loving hand on the dappled gray's neck, which she had just made smooth and silky with the curry comb.

"I know _Stormy_. I was referring to the boy whom is stealing your affections _away from Stormy."_

Evelyn had moved on to combing out Stormy's mane and she pulled a little harder then she meant. The horse stamped in disapproval and his ears pinned back, giving the universal sign of an angry horse.

"Sorry," Evelyn muttered to the horse and tried to calm him down, hoping that Jessica would be distracted and drop the subject.

"Come on, Evelyn." She said after a few minutes. "You're my best friend, I know when you're keeping a secret. And you have that same dopey expression you had when you dated Adam, so what's his name?"

"Sirius."

"Yeah, I'm being serious! Tell me!"

"No," Evelyn smiled, remembering what Sirius had told her about constantly hearing jokes about his name. "His name is Sirius."

"Seriously?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes and began to pack up her horse's things.

"Sorry," Jessica laughed. "it's just...where the hell did you pick up a guy named Sirius?"

"At work."

"I_ knew_ it. I _knew_ you were working as a prostitute."

"Shut up," Evelyn said but both girls were laughing. "He's working on a motorcycle across the street and comes in the restaurant a lot." Especially lately but she didn't have to tell Jessica that.

"He's named Sirius and he has a motorcycle? You sure know how to pick them."

"Pick what?" A third girl asked as she walked into the stable, taking off her riding helmet. Beth. Evelyn didn't much like most of the girls from the stable but Beth was particularly bad. Beth's hair tumbled out of her helmet in almost perfect waves. Evelyn knew her own hair was probably in spikes from her helmet.

"Haircuts," Evelyn answered knowing Beth's hair was her pride and joy. She would have fainted if someone suggested she cut it.

Beth looked like she wanted to laugh. Instead she let out a little "hem" noise and said: "It's really too bad. You had such pretty hair before."

"It's still pretty," Evelyn said a little defensively.

Beth let out a short laugh and Jessica rolled her eyes towards Evelyn over Beth's shoulder before saying: "Yeah it is. I know Evelyn's boyfriend thinks so."

Evelyn appreciated the fact that Jessica had defended her. But judging by how quickly Beth spun around to stare at her, any mention of boyfriend had been a bad idea. Not that Sirius was her boyfriend. He was just...there.

"He's not my boyfriend," Evelyn said quickly.

"You'll him bring to my party Saturday night, won't you?" Beth asked.

"What party?" Evelyn asked.

"Beth's birthday party that I invited you to." Jessica said in a voice that clearly said 'I forgot to tell you, pretend like you know' "We will all be there. Me, evelyn, and her boyfriend."

"Great." Beth said with a fake smile. "Can't wait."

As soon as Beth left the stable, Evelyn rounded on Jessica.

"We're not going."

"Oh, come on! I want to meet this biker boy."

"And so does Beth! She only invited me so she can make fun of me."

"No, she really did invite you. But that was back when you were skipping and I just forgot to tell you. Besides, it will be fun to see Beth freak because of your boyfriend. Is he hot?"

"He's not my boyf-"

"Is he hot?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Then I don't see the problem. Beth will be jealous. I'll get to meet him. You'll be happy. See? No problem."

But there was a problem to Evelyn. A big problem. Since the night she and Sirius had kissed, they had been spending more time together. But instead of getting to know him more, she felt like she was knowing less. Their activities were limited to him visiting her at work, or she would keep him company while he worked on his bike. Which was a good thing because sometimes the simplest tasks, like opening a paint can were completely perplexing to him. Evelyn had come to the conclusion that he probably just lived a very sheltered life. He said his family was old-fashioned.

Sometimes Evelyn and Sirius would go for walks together. They would talk but Sirius would avoid the simplest questions. If Evelyn insisted upon it he would find a way to distract her, usually by kissing her, which was a welcome interruption. She knew she should be somewhat offended but it was hard to think of anything at those moments but him. And Evelyn did think of him a lot. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. Despite his oddities. But although Evelyn found these endearing, like when she had sent a letter to her friend who was spending the summer in France, and Sirius had been amazed by the post office (foreign mail was delightful, wasn't it? At least that's how Evelyn comforted herself.) Though Evelyn found little things like these strange but cute, she had a feeling girls like Beth would just find them strange. And that strangeness would mean that there was something wrong with Evelyn. Sure he was handome but Evelyn's boyfriend was defective.

Was he her boyfriend? What made someone your boyfriend? Kissing? Spending time together? Meeting your friends? None of this mattered now though. What mattered was that Sirius, whatever he was to Evelyn, wasn't going to be her little secret much longer.

* * *

Evelyn was avoiding the inevitable for as long as possible. She had gotten good at deciphering his general mood, and his matched hers: Not too happy. So Evelyn tried her hardest to cheer Sirius up. Mainly by snogging. It seemed to be working but finally Evelyn pulled away and asked:

"Can you do me a big favor?"

Sirius hesitated when he heard this. A favor for anyone was usually a big deal. What would evelyn consider a big favor? He wished they were still kissing. He wasn't in the mood to talk, not tonight. Maybe he would of spoken to James but he couldn't talk to Evelyn. She was there though, and she smelled nice and her fingers seemed to trace some invisible picture on the back of his neck and that was all he needed.

"Depends on the favor,"

This wasn't the answer Evelyn wanted but it wasn't that bad.

"I know this girl and she's having a party Saturday and she...I mean I want you to come with me."

"You're inviting me to a party?"

"Yeah" Evelyn said unsure of what he thought of that.

"And that's a favor?"

Evelyn saw Sirius smiling and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. He was fine with it. Of course he was, why wouldn't he be? Evelyn had been overreacting.

"That's really more of an honor, going to a party with me. I love parties. I'd be thrilled to."

Sirius _was_ thrilled with having something to do, somewhere to go. His cousins were spending the weekend and the further away from home he was, the better. Regulus's threat of telling their cousin about Sirius's muggle activities was still ringing in his ears. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see anybody. Partying with Evelyn was the furthest thing from a favor and with that he leaned in and they began to kiss again.

* * *

All too soon, Sirius was walking Evelyn home. Hand in hand, they walked by the music store that they had been kicked out of. Evelyn slowed down and stared at the guitar in the window.

"Returning to the scene of the crime is never a good idea," Sirius joked.

"Yeah," Evelyn said absentmindedly still thinking of the guitar and how she longed to own it.

"Why don't you buy it?" Sirius asked, his head tilted to the side slightly.

"I can't go back in there."

"Sure you can. Just go alone," Sirius smirked. "I think I was the problem, not you."

"Yeah, one day," Evelyn said quietly, speeding up to put the guitar far behind them.

"Why are you putting it off?"

"Haven't you ever done that? You get an idea or want something but you put it off because it's special and it needs time. It needs to be right. "

"Not really. When I get an idea, I just run with it. If it's right, It's right. It doesn't matter if it happens now or later." Sirius was much more action then thought.

"But some things need time. And planning. Or else it could go really wrong."

"Things go wrong in the world no matter what. Even if you plan or take your time." Sirius said darkly. He was thinking of the state of things in the wizarding world with the rise of dark magic. "Isn't it better to be happy and doing what you want despite all the bad stuff? It makes it easier to get through it."

Sirius was now thinking of his family. He didn't waste his time trying to make them happy because there were things going on that were much bigger than them. In the scope of things did it really matter if he was gryffindor or slytherin?

Evelyn was considering Sirius's words. She was thinking of their meaning but mostly she was thinking of the fact that they came from him. Sirius had surprised her a few times before like this. Sometimes, he got this dark expression on his face and he said something beyond his years. Evelyn had the distinct impression that he had seen or known things that she didn't know. There was something dark there. Though Evelyn often thought she didn't know him or anything about him, she was wrong. Did it matter where he went to school or what his parents did for a living when she knew what he cared about deep down?

Evelyn suddenly felt silly for caring so much about what the girls at the party would think of him. It didn't matter what they thought. All that mattered was what Evelyn thought. And Evelyn was thinking this: how disappointed she was that they were in front of her house and that they had to say goodbye and how she was going to kiss him goodnight.

* * *

**Little bit of a filler chapter, but it happens. Thanks for reading!**


	13. The Party

Sirius was sure that getting out of his house and going to a party with Evelyn was a perfect plan but now that the night was upon him, he changed his mind. For one, his house was full of various family members and he had a feeling that his absence, though welcome, would be noticed. For another thing, Sirius had no idea what he would say or do in a room full of Muggles. He had enough trouble with just Evelyn or the men who worked at the auto-garage. So he was nervous and excited as he ducked out of his house to wait where Evelyn told him to meet her.

Sirius was lost in his thoughts about his family and the night ahead of him and he didn't even notice that Evelyn was suddenly right next to him. He blinked down at her. Evelyn looked way different then he had ever seen her. He always saw her after work, tired and slightly disshelved. But here she was, made up and looking bright. Her hair was slicked back in a way that made her look older, more sophisticated and she was wearing a dress. Sirius gulped a little. Evelyn had legs. He _knew _Evelyn had legs and he had seen her in shorts before, it was a hot summer after all, but her legs never quite looked like this.

"You look..." He shook his head unsure of what he wanted to say.

"Thanks," Evelyn said with a bright smile. "I think."

Sirius nodded: "No, it's good. Definitely good."

"You look good too."

And he did look good. Evelyn had seen him in those jeans and that t-shirt before. It looked like he didn't have many clothes. He wore the same ones alot but the leather jacket was new. Sirius noticed that guys on motorcycles always had leather jackets so he figured it was time he got one considering his bike was coming along quite nicely and he was sure it would be done soon.

He followed Evelyn slowly, still staring at her before saying:

"I can't believe your mother let you out of the house looking like that."

"She didn't."Evelyn laughed as she reached back and grabbed Sirius's hand. She felt unsure all the sudden. Was it too much? Plus, she didn't like the look she was getting from another man on the street. "She let me out of the house in work clothes, thinking I was sleeping over my friend's houe tonight."

As they walked, Sirius noticed that Evelyn's hand would tighten around his and then she would pull at her dress and gulp and look distressed.

"What are you so nervous about?" He asked.

"These people. I wouldn't exactly call them friends and oh, i don't know." Evelyn said with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

But Sirius was worrying. And Evelyn's nervousness wasn't helping. He expected her to be cool and composed. Evelyn took out a cigarette and lit it, enjoying the calmness that came with it. That was the Evelyn that Sirius knew. She looked cool, dangerous, different, a surprise.

"You want one?" She asked when she noticed Sirius staring at her.

"Yeah."

Evelyn gave one to Sirius and held up the match to light it. It lit without a problem. They both smiled, remembering the time Sirius had tried a cigarette for the first time. The night Evelyn decided that she liked Sirius. A lot. Sirius was now thrilled with himself for being able to smoke. He was sure he looked cool and felt his anxiety lessen with each puff.

"Well," Evelyn said a few minutes later as she stopped in front of a house. "Here we go."

Sirius opened the door and blinked at what he saw. There were teenagers _everywhere. _There must have been at least thirty. And they were all dressed so differently. Some in tiny dresses and others in large pants and some in dark glasses. Sirius felt a surge of something akin to pride when he saw that most of the girls had extremely long hair, save for Evelyn. There was rock music playing loudly and the smell of something strange in the air.

Evelyn was overwhelmed by the scene before her too but not nearly as much as Sirius and she looked around the room for a familar face. Finally, she spotted Jessica across the room and gave her a small wave. Jessica leaned forward to get a better view of Sirius and then her jaw dropped. "Oh. My. God." She mouthed to Evelyn who just laughed at her friend as she moved across towards the crowd towards Evelyn and Sirius.

"What are you laughing at?" Sirius asked, glad to have something to focus on.

"Nothing. I just want you to meet somebody," Evelyn said and found herself on the verge of a giggle, the atmosphere was affecting her. "This is Jessica, my best friend. Jessica, this is Sirius."

"So you're the mystery man."

"Hope so," Sirius said with a grin.

Evelyn looked at him as if through someone else's eyes. He had the handsome bad boy vibe down to a tee and suddenly Evelyn appreciated him more then ever. She wasn't the only one who felt that way.

There were whispers of: "Is that Evelyn Morris?" "Who's that boy?" The other boys thought Evelyn looked good. The girls thought Sirius looked better.

"Come on, Evelyn. Let's go get something to drink." Jessica said but what she really meant was 'we need to gossip.'

"Be right back," Evelyn said to Sirius, following Jessica despite the slightly panicked expression on Sirius's face.

"So, when you told me about mystery man, you forgot to mention that he was drop dead gorgeous."

"I never really noticed before."

"Liar."

Evelyn and Jessica laughed as they reached the drinks table. Evelyn grabbed a drink for herself and one for Sirius. Evelyn didn't go to parties often but when she did, she did it right.

"You better get back to him before someone tries to steal him."

"You think?" Evelyn asked nervously.

"I know." Jessica said and Evelyn followed her gaze to see Beth making her way over to Sirius.

As Evelyn approached them she heard Beth say:

"It's my birthday party and I don't know you. So you must be my present."

Beth _would _say some ridiculous line like that and think it made her cute. Sirius saw Evelyn walking towards him and felt a rush of gratitude. Part of him wanted to flirt with the other girl but the bigger part of him had no idea where he was and what he was doing. He reached out and snaked his arm around Evelyn as soon as she was close enough:

"I've already been unwrapped." He said with a grin, Stupid lines deserved stupid responses.

Beth's face fell when saw Evelyn standing with Sirius. Evelyn unsure of what to do took a swig of her beer. Sirius stood there smirking.

"So this is the boyfriend," Beth said incredulously. "Well if you ever return him, I don't mind regifts." Beth laughed at her own little joke and then left with a little sneer.

"This is _her _party?" Sirius asked.

"Yup," Evelyn said as she took another swig. Sirius turned to her to say something else about the topic but Evelyn didn't want to hear it. She thrust the bottle at him.

"What's this?"

"Beer."

Sirius grinned. That he knew. He brought the bottle to his mouth and gulped, expecting something similar to butterbeer. What he got was much much different. He spat it out and choked slightly in the process. Evelyn laughed as she wiped away the bit of froth on his chin.

"What were you expecting?"

"Not that." Sirius answered honestly.

Evelyn laughed again and took another sip from her bottle. She was aware that it was almost gone and she should probably slow down. Sirius was aware of the fact that yet again, Evelyn looked much cooler then he did. Unsure, he stared at the bottle before taking a tiny sip. Different but not necessarily bad.

"Not bad," Sirius said as he took a bigger sip.

"I'm about to get you drunk for the first time, aren't I?"

"No. I've been drunk just not on this," Sirius said. Not with muggle drinks. Despite the fact that Sirius thought the quality inferior, the drink did it's job and he felt more relaxed in the room full of muggles. The music was pretty good and he liked to look at the muggle clothes and he and Evelyn finally found a group of people who were fun to talk to.

As hours passed, Evelyn found herself in a group talking to one of the girls from her equestrian class, Christie.

"You know Evelyn, I didn't think you'd come back to the stables after you stopped showing up."

"Why?" Sirius asked curiously.

Christie smiled at him, she was a nice girl and very talkative after a few drinks. "Because Evelyn is _so _not a horse girl. She's more of a..." Christie stopped to think a moment. "A rock and roll kind of girl. Like she should be riding a motorcycle, not a horse."

Sirius and Evelyn exchanged a look and didn't see the other person join their group.

"I reckon she's not brave enough," Beth said, mean and drunk.

"Maybe not. But she doesn't need to be when she's with me and on my bike."

Evelyn felt a surge of anger towards Beth but felt it switch towards Sirius. Evelyn realized she was probably drunk but before she could make up her confused mind, Sirius bent down and whispered:

"Before you get angry with me: I know you're brave enough and can defend your own honor and all that."

His words slurred together slightly. He was probably intoxicated too. Evelyn stood on the tips of her toes and found Sirius's ear:

"Yeah. But it _is_ nice to have someone do it for you sometimes."

They beamed at each other and Evelyn realized she was definitely drunk. The previous anger had completely evaporated into a giddy excitement and her words slurred together and she had swayed, unbalanced on her tip-toes.

Evelyn wasn't the only one. Jealousy surged through Beth as she saw the girl she secretly wished she was and the handsome boy look at each other like that. She let it take control of her and it was like her hands had a mind of their own.

Evelyn blinked down, suddenly wet.

"Oops," Beth said empty cup in hand.

"What is wrong with you?" Evelyn yelled, surging forward but before Evelyn could lay a hand on Beth, she had been thinking a nice hair pull, someone was holding her back.

"Okay," Jessica said. Evelyn wondered where she came from, had she been there the whole time or did she just magically show up with the threat of a fight? "Let's go get you cleaned up."

Jessica led her towards the bathroom and all Evelyn was thinking of was the ways in which she could destroy Beth. She imagined herself pulling hair, throwing punches, embarrassing her somehow like showing her underwear to everyone there. How did I end up in a bathroom, Evelyn then thought.

"What happened?" Jessica asked as she dabbed water onto Evelyn's dress.

"She's a bitch,"

"Obviously. But you're drunk. Were you really about to fight her?"

"Yes and I still will."

Jessica shook her head and said: "Don't hate me," before she dunked Evelyn's head into the sink full of cold water.

Evelyn let out a gasp as the cold water soaked into her pores and cleared her mind. She came out of the sink gasping and dripping water everywhere. Before she could do anything, her head was dunked again. After another deep breath and before Jessica could put her under a third time, Evelyn gasped:

"Okay! Okay, I'm better now."

Jessica threw her a towel to dry off with. "I think I ruined your hair," Jessica commented.

This made Evelyn laugh.

"No more fighting?" Jessica asked when she saw that Evelyn wasn't mad anymore.

"No more fighting," Evelyn grumbled which reminded her of a conversation she once had with Sirius.

"Where's Sirius?" She suddenly asked.

"Out there, somewhere."

Evelyn took one long stride towards the door before Jessica stopped her:

"Seriously Evelyn. No more fighting. No more drinking."

"You sound like my mother," Evelyn said furious.

"Ouch. I know what that means coming from you."

But Evelyn wasn't listening. She was already out of the bathroom and looking around. She couldn't see him anywhere. She set out to find him.

And find him, she did. He was surrounded by a group of boys, some laughing others looking like they were about to fall asleep. The smell of smoke was strong in the air.

"What are you doing?" Evelyn asked surprised.

"Smoking," Sirius said with a giggle.

Sirius had followed Jessica and Evelyn to the bathroom but had had the door slammed in his face. He stood outside the door for a minute or two, unsure of what to do. He spied a group of boys smoking and thought of how cool Evelyn always looked when she smoked and the calmness that came with it. So he joined the boys, but this was different. It made him feel different. Giddy and strange.

"Weed?" Evelyn asked incredulously. "You're smoking _weed?" _

"Yeah," Sirius said even though he didn't know what that meant. He thought it was a cigarette but now that he thought about it, the taste and smell and feelings were all different. He started to laugh.

One of the other boys offered Evelyn a hit. She looked at Sirius laughing on the floor at nothing at all. She thought of everyone else at the party and how her hair was soaking wet. How she was still drunk and still mad but yet giddy. Then she thought: "Fuck it" and accepted.

In what felt like no time at all, Sirius and Evelyn couldn't stop laughing. Sirius was speaking nonsense about something called "quidditch" and about werewolves and something about his best friend being a deer. Evelyn was laughing so hard her stomach was cramping. Sirius was talking about potions class.

"Potions? What are you a witch?" Evelyn asked.

"A witch? No, I'm a man so I'm a wizard."

Evelyn was sure she had never heard something so funny in her life. She wiped tears out of her eyes and laughed so hard, her stomach hurt even more. Or maybe that was something else. She stopped laughing and the pain continued. Evelyn stood up too quickly. Bad idea. She ran towards the door and barely made it out before she threw up. Sirius followed her out and held her up. He was still laughing.

"That's disgusting,"

Evelyn threw up again and then looked up at him. Tears swimming in her eyes, not from laughing and her face was pale. Sirius grew concerned:

"Are you okay?"

Evelyn nodded and slowly straightened up, feeling more sober but still sick. Sirius looked at the vomit on the ground and his face turned a grayish color. Then he was the one doubled over, vomiting on the grass. Evelyn though still shaky, reached over to hold him up. She moved his hair away from his mouth and breathing the night air, she became even more sober.

"I think we have this backwards," She commented. "_I'm_ the one holding _your _hair back."

The thought made her laugh and Sirius let out a single shaky chuckle before he was throwing up again. He had never felt so sick in his life. Never. Not even the first time he drank firewhiskey or the time James had snuck a bit of puking potion into his pumpkin juice.

"You're sick as a dog," Evelyn said concerned.

Sirius straightened up. "Dog" reminded him that just moments before he was telling Evelyn all about his secrets. She didn't look scared or amazed. He reached into his backpocket and felt for his wand. It was still safely tucked in there. Had he been foolish enough to take it out?

"Are you okay? You're so pale," A crease had formed between Evelyn's eyebrows. Sirius just nodded, scared to say anything, worried about what he had said.

"Let's go sit down," Evelyn suggested as she led Sirius to a tree in the in the yard. Evelyn leaned against it and Sirius laid down with his head on her lap. Neither said anything for a while. Sirius felt sick to his stomach but he didn't think it had anything to do with the puking.

"Guess you were right," Evelyn said suddenly.

"About what?" Sirius didn't know why he asked. He didn't want to know.

"You once made a joke about me fighting girls when we went out. Which I would have done if I wasn't held back."

"Yeah," Sirius said glad that whatever he might have said was forgotten. "For once, I had to be the one holding you back. Guess we're even now,"

"Hardly," Evelyn whispered, her eyes beginning to close. She shifted her position so that she was laying down next to him. She put an arm around him and he put one around her. She couldn't remember what she wanted to say. He was grateful that his secret was still safe. Within seconds, both were sound asleep.


	14. The Morning After

The thing about passing out drunk and high and spending the night sleeping in a yard is that the next morning, it's hard to look like anything but that. Which was a lesson that Sirius learned the next morning. Evelyn didn't learn the same because she snuck into Jessica's house with her and showered, ate, and looked like a girl who was just tired from staying up all night with her friend at an innocent sleepover. Since Sirius didn't have the same luxury, he showed up at his house smelling of alcohol and vomit with blades of grass in his hair. He had the misfortune of walking right into his mother when he opened the door. Her screaming certainly didn't help his pounding head.

"Where have you been? What has happened to you? Are you ill?"

Before Sirius could think of an excuse, his cousin and brother walked into the room, looking disgusted. He looked at Regulus and thought of Hogwarts.

"James," He said suddenly. "I was with James."

"And you thought you'd stay out all night with James and not tell us? You're a liar."

Sirius was still staring at Regulus and was pleading with his eyes. Regulus was his brother after all and yes, they disagreed but Regulus would help him if he really needed it, wouldn't he?

"He is." Regulus said. "James isn't in London." Sirius had the nerve to expect Regulus to help him? Why would he? It wasn't like Sirius ever did anything for Regulus.

"He showed up yesterday."

"Then where is he?" Bellatrix sneered. "Potter is a pureblood. He should show us respect and present himself to us."

Sirius thought the idea of his friend having to present himself to his family was ridiculous. All he wanted was for all of them to disappear so he could bathe and take a nice long nap. Instead, he had to lie:

"He will. Later today." Sirius cringed when he realized that he should have said "soon" not "today." Now what was he going to do?

He hurried off to this room and wrote an owl to James:

"_I need you here. Now. It's really important that my family think you were with me last night. Drop everything and run as fast as you can." _

He had been writing to James about his family miseries all summer. James constantly asked if there was anything he could do, if Sirius wanted to stay at his house. Sirius hoped that James would be there for him now.

Meanwhile, downstairs Bellatrix was asking:

"Would you like me to find out what he's been doing?"

Mrs. Black eyed her niece and the wand that she was twirling between her fingers. Her reputation proceeded her. She thought of all the horrible things the girl could do to her son.

"No," Mrs. Black said firmly. Sirius was still her son despite everything. Bellatrix's eyes narrowed. "Regulus can find out, won't you Reg?"

"Of course, mother." Regulus said. He already knew what Sirius was doing but he didn't know the whole story and finally the time was upon him to find out.

* * *

Sirius sat in his room and stared at the wall. He couldn't go downstairs and deal with his family but he couldn't leave either. He hadn't heard from James and he was beginning to panic. Maybe it was a good sign, he thought, maybe that means he was on his way.

Sirius absentmindedly stared at a poster of a girl on his wall. It reminded him of Evelyn, not that it looked anything like her, but the girl in the picture was a muggle just like Evelyn and she wasn't wearing much clothes and he had seen Evelyn...

Sirius gulped and closed his eyes but it didn't help. Instead he saw exactly what he had seen that morning when the sun first rose and woke him . Evelyn next to him, her arm draped around his waist, skin against skin since his shirt had ridden up while he was sleeping. Her bare leg was looped around his bare leg, his pants somehow halfway across the yard, how had that happened? Slightly alarmed he looked more carefully and saw Evelyn was still in her dress, which was equal parts a relief and a disappointment. It had shifted over the course of the night though and he still saw more of her then he had ever seen before. He snuck a glance but felt guilty so he looked at her face. She looked like a mess, just like him, but at the same time she looked peaceful and pretty with the rising sun on her face.

He sat up to get a better view and she instinctually reacted by tightening her grip around him. She tried to nuzzle her head further onto his chest and a small wrinkle formed between her eyebrows when she realized he wasn't there. Sirius almost wanted to laugh at how adorable it was but instead he kissed her nose lightly and laid back down beside her. She let out a little contented sigh and Sirius was sure she would be woken up by his heart pounding against the side of her head like that. He closed his eyes and despite the fact that the ground was uncomfortable, that his head felt as if it was about to split open, and that the air still smelled faintly of vomit, he was sure he had never had a better night's sleep even though it was a mere two hours from when the sun rose till Beth ran out screaming, telling them to get out since her parents were almost home.

But that felt like a lifetime ago, as Sirius opened his eyes and found himself, not snuggling next to Evelyn but instead, staring at a poster that was no where near as great as the real thing. He'd probably never see Evelyn again unless he found someway to get himself out of the mess he was in.

It had been stupid of him to spend the entire night out but his head was always foggy nowadays. Evelyn should have warned him, he thought angrily. But he couldn't really blame her. She didn't know that he had no idea how muggle parties worked or that Sirius would have been so messed up after a few muggle drinks. Evelyn was trouble. He thought fleetingly of his mother saying that muggles were more trouble then they were worth. But she was worth it, wasn't she?

If only he could tell her about what he really was. It didn't matter before. She was just a girl. A girl he could get in trouble with or snog. A girl who would annoy his parents and distract him. But something had changed and suddenly she was more then that. And every moment he didn't tell her, he felt guiltier and guiltier, like he was lying or wronging her in some way even though he knew he was protecting her. He wanted to tell her but he couldn't. Not now. Maybe one day, years from now, like if he were to marry her...

A knock at his door shook from all his thoughts. He dreaded seeing who was on the other side and walked slowly, delaying whatever horribleness was awaiting on the other side. When he did reach the door, he looked down to see Kreacher:

"Mistress sent Kreacher to tell Master Sirius that a young Mr. Potter is here,"

"James?" Said Sirius, feeling as if something had exploded in his body. He could have kissed the elf but instead he ran off towards the stairs and jumped the last three in his haste. He stumbled into the living room to see James sitting on a chair surrounded by various members of the Black family.

Sirius's mother turned to him and had a distinct look on her face, like she was sniffing a dungbomb.

"I suppose you weren't lying then," She said.

"No," Sirius's voice cracked from not being used all day and from relief, and unbeknownst to Sirius: a result of his hangover.

"I still think he's hiding something, Auntie." Bellatrix said staring at Sirius. "Let me figure out what," She continued as her hand reached for her pocket, her voice a deadly whisper.

"No! Bellatrix, we have a guest and we will all be on our best behaviour," Mrs. Black turned towards James and gave him a look of contempt. "Although, not the ideal guest. He is still a friend of Sirius's and from a noble family. So we will respect him and believe what he states."

There was a tense moment of silence in which Regulus thought of how unfair it was. Here Sirius was, caught red-handed doing something, though none knew what, and he was still forgiven. The same would never be done for Regulus. How come Sirius could get away with things that their parents didn't approve of?

James and Sirius wanted nothing more then to get far, far away from there.

Bellatrix was thinking of what a filthy liar her cousin was.

Mrs. Black was wondering if she did something wrong as a mother, if there was some explanation of why her son turned out this way. Some explanation as to why she still cared.

"Can we be excused now?" Sirius asked, his voice still a croak, so he had to stop to clear his throat before he could finish.

"Yes." Mrs. Black said only because she could not stand to look at her son for a moment longer.

James got up and gave everyone a sort of awkward bow before following Sirius out of the door. Regulus went to follow them.

"Where are you going?" His mother asked shrilly. suddenly afraid that her other son was going the same route and she would lose him too.

"You told me to follow,"

"There's no need. You should be here with your family. It is where you belong."

What she didn't say was that she wanted him there with her specifically. He was all she had. She wouldn't lose him like she lost Sirius. She refused.

Regulus was so angry, he could cry. He did everything right. He was always there for his family. He got good grades. He was a Slytherin. He would bring the family honor by joining the Dark Lord. But he still wasn't good enough because he wasn't Sirius. His family wouldn't allow him any freedom and they didn't believe what he was capable of. No one did. And Regulus was too stubborn to see that he hated his family just as much as his brother did.

* * *

James and Sirius had made it out of the house without saying a word. They had turned the corner at the end of the block before James exploded:

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON? I get an urgent letter from you that explains NOTHING. I come here worried to death. I walk into your ENTIRE family. I have NO idea what YOU want me to tell them and it was like they were putting me on TRIAL. I'm pretty sure your cousin was about to use the CRUCIATUS curse on me! I have to make some LIES about being with you and my parents at The Leaky YOU walk in looking like you've been run over by a herd of hippogriffs a couple hundred times and-" James stopped to catch his breath. "And what in the name of Merlin is going on?" He asked in a more relaxed tone, certain that was the only way he'd get an answer.

"I'm really sorry, mate." Sirius said his voice still shaky although for different reasons. "I shouldn't have asked you to walk in there without warning-"

"I'd say." James said as he sank to the sidewalk, his back against a building. "Your family is really scary, Sirius. I'd reckon I was more scared in there then I ever was running around with a werewolf." James gave a half-grin and Sirius returned it.

"I bet even Voldemort would seem like a sweet old gran compared to your mother."

Sirius let out his bark-like laugh even though he didn't find it very funny when he thought about it. He held is hand out to help James up.

"Come on," Sirius said. "I'll tell you all about what's going on while I show you."

"You've really outdone yourself, Padfoot," James said as he surveyed the motorbike in front of him. "So what sort of enchantments have you done to it?"

"None. Not a drop of magic. Although I'm pretty sure the old man who lives upstairs is a wizard so I might-"

"No magic? Are you having a laugh? Sirius Black, troublemaker extraordinaire, second brightest wizard at Hogwarts, behind me of course, who was able to become an Animagus by fifth year, using _no _magic?" James grinned. "You must be in love with this muggle girl."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, you're learning how to live like a muggle, which can only mean one thing. You want to marry her have half lots of little half-bloods."

"Think of how happy Gran Black would be," Sirius laughed before continuing: "It's been sort of fun working on it without magic though, like I'm achieving something, you know? Something my parents don't approve of too, which is always an added bonus."

"Well your achievements mean nothing to me. So, let's do something fun to it."

"My achievements mean nothing to you?" Sirius asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No, that was a lie. I'm proud of you being an Animagus, for getting out of that detention with Slughorn last year, for shagging a muggle, for coming up with that prank in our third year...Oh, one time you went two weeks without pranking Snivellus, an achievement beyond all measure I assure you. Let's see, I'm proud of you for-"

" Alright, alright I get it," Sirius interrupted with a laugh, not bothering to correct James about the assumption about Evelyn. "Back when I first started, I thought about maybe trying to make it fly."

"A flying motorcycle? Excellent," James said as he walked towards the vehicle. "But first," James discreetly took his wand out and attached the front wheel.

"Prongs," Sirius warned.

"What?" James said with feign innocence. "I want to go for a ride on it and I think you owe me at least that."

"Too right," Sirius said. "So how do you reckon we make it fly? Perhaps some variation of Wingardium Leviosa?"

"Or maybe Levicorpus."

"Levi-bikeus?" Sirius offered.

The two boys laughed as they worked on Sirius's bike using tiny spurts of magic. Sirius temporarily forgot all about his troubles. All about how he had accidently told Evelyn all about his life, and somehow she miraculously didn't realize. All about his family's suspicion and that there was a chance that soon enough it would come crashing down all around him. He was in the company of a friend and that was all that mattered, not his hangover, or even Evelyn at that moment.

So much so, that he didn't notice that Evelyn was standing there nervously looking at him. She felt awkward about being there. She was tired and unsure of what had happened the night before. She did know that Sirius had a sort of panicked expression in his eyes that morning and that they hardly said goodbye. Had she done something horrible? Had he? Who was this mysterious boy that he was laughing with now and what were they talking about?

The mysterious boy looked at Evelyn. His hair was black and messy, his glasses dangling dangerously close to the bottom of his nose. He pushed them up and cleared his throat. This caught Sirius's attention and he looked up at Evelyn and the same panicked expression entered his eyes and he dropped the wooden stick he was holding.

Evelyn stared at whatever motorcycle tool that was, afraid to look at Sirius after seeing that look in his eyes and said:

"Sorry. I wanted to call but I realized I didn't have your number. I can go if you want."

"Why would I want you to go?" Sirius said with a grin, stashing the tool in his backpocket and walking towards her.

She shrugged her shoulders before he put his arm around them. Why was she worrying about the morning after if nothing had happened? Sirius kissed her cheek softly, ever conscious of the memory of her sleeping form and of James's little taunt about him being in love.

"Evelyn, this is James. James, Evelyn."

Evelyn shook the boy's hand and he grinned at her.

"So you're the mu-"

"...Mystery girl, yes." Sirius interrupted while glaring at his friend. The boy looked back sheepishly. "James and I have been working on my bike," Sirius added quickly for a change of topic.

"I see that. It actually has _both_ wheels now."

"Prongs, I think Eve's teasing me," Sirius said in mock indignation. Evelyn couldn't help but to still cringe a bit at "Eve." It could potentially be a cute nickname but she didn't particularly like nicknames.

"I think you're right, Padfoot. I also think she doesn't like the name Eve."

"How would you know that?" Sirius asked surprised. He knew she didn't like it which was why he only used it when he was teasing.

"I happen to be very good at reading the subtleties of women."

Sirius let out his dog-like bark. "You reckon Evans agrees with that?" Sirius turned towards Evelyn and added: "Lily is the girl James is obsessed with at school and she loathes him. It's really rather pathetic."

"Remember you said that. Remember and use it in the speech you'll give at our wedding."

"Poor girl," Evelyn commented.

"What?" James asked surprised.

"Well if I were her, I wouldn't want anyone deciding what I was going to do for the rest of my life or who I would spend it with without my consent."

"Careful, Evelyn. I could hear Lily saying that. Next thing you know, he'll be wanting to marry you next."

All three teenagers smiled having no hard feelings about what was said. In fact, they were mostly impressed by one another. They all worked together on the motorcycle, the boys forgetting about magic. After some time, Sirius said:

"I reckon this will run pretty soon. Maybe even now."

"Yeah," Evelyn agreed. "It's come a long way."

"Looks about the same to me," James said and all three laughed.

But Evelyn's laughter was short lived. Sirius's motorcycle was almost done. His little summer project was near completion. What about her little summer project? She hadn't even started. What about her? What would happen when he finished? She would see him less and here he was with a friend and she already felt like she was being pushed out of the picture. Evelyn stood suddenly and said:

"I have to go. It was really nice meeting you James."

"It was nice meeting you too, Evelyn." He said as he shook her hand. When he let go, Evelyn grabbed Sirius by the elbow and pulled him away from James's sight.

"Is something wrong?" Sirius asked. "Why are you leaving so suddenly?" Sirius had the terrible idea that she remembered what he had told her about his life the night before.

"No. No, I just have something to do," She answered distractedly.

"I'll see you soon, right?" Sirius asked worried about whether meeting James was a good idea. Was she ditching him? When she didn't answer right away, he panicked and in his panic, he leaned down and kissed her with a sort of urgency.

Evelyn was sure that he had a tiny firework hidden in his mouth and she had accidentally swallowed it. That was the only way to explain the explosions going on inside her. She reached up and put her hand in his hair, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. She wanted him impossibly closer, as close as he was this morning when she woke up entangled with him.

They broke apart to catch their breath:

"I'll see you soon, won't I?" Sirius persisted in a gasp, the thought that led him to kiss her like that.

Evelyn couldn't talk, certain she would never be able to talk again but she nodded. Then she kissed his nose softly and pulled away. She couldn't handle another kiss like that, so with the memory of it over every inch of her body, she left.

Sirius made his way over to James, still in a daze.

"Everything okay?" James asked.

Sirius nodded: "I just had the best snog of my entire life."

"Wow padfoot, you really are in love. " James said amazed. But Sirius didn't hear him, he was too busy staring at the retreating figure of Evelyn. But if he had heard him, he would of denied it. Not yet but he could potentially.

"I like her," James added. "She's fiery. I know how much my approval means to you. As shown by your insecurities earlier about your achievements. Can't say I blame you for having insecurities with your family though..."

Sirius snapped back to reality and lightly punched his friend in the arm, an acknowledgement of the teasing.

"Shut up. Let's go work on that flying charm..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Have I mentioned how much I love those of you who consistently leave reviews? Because I do and I really, really appreciate it. Also, the next couple of weeks are going to be really busy for me so it may be a little while before I update again. But I will update as soon as I can and I won't abandon this. In fact, It gets pretty action-packed from here on out so get ready for it. Much love and thank you so much for reading!


	15. The Accident

This was it. It was over. Sirius stared down at his motorcycle and couldn't help but to grin. He had finished with James's added help and it was finally done. It couldn't fly yet it could run properly the normal way. He couldn't wait to take his first ride and there was only one person he wanted to be there with him.

With that in mind, Sirius walked over to the restaurant and sat at his usual table. When the waitress came over, it wasn't Evelyn, it was an older woman.

"Is Evelyn working today?"

"Sorry, love. She took the day off. What can I get you?"

"Er, coffee."

The waitress walked away to get him his drink. Where was Evelyn? She usually worked on this day. Why was she taking the day off? Had something happened? She had run off so quickly the other day and now it seemed like she was avoiding him. He had no way of contacting her. What was it that she had said when he was with James? She had wanted to "call" him, could he call her?

The other waitress returned with his coffee and Sirius asked:

"Can I call her?" He asked it slowly, unsure if it was the right thing to do.

'Evelyn?" The waitress asked. "I suppose so. There's a phone over there by the door. "

Sirius stared at the strange contraption, wondering what it was he had to do. There were a series of numbers and Evelyn had mentioned that she didn't know his number. Do all humans have numbers? Was it like some form of cattle branding? Did only muggles have numbers? How does one go about finding out their number? And even if you did have a number, what do you do with it?

"Forget her number?" The waitress asked.

"I don't know it," He admitted.

"Want me to see if someone in the back has it?" She asked indicating towards the kitchens.

"No, that's okay. I'll just wait." Sirius answered before sitting back at the table. He had a Daily Prophet with him and he attempted the crossword puzzle. He wasn't very successful given that he kept looking out the window waiting for Evelyn.

He was anxious. He wanted to go on his bike. He wanted to know where Evelyn was. He gave up on the crossword and left. He could go home but he didn't want to. Ever since his night out, his family began to completely ignore him. It was better then them nagging him but now he felt nervous about being in his own house. They were almost _too _quiet, like they were plotting something.

So he went back to his motorcycle and polished it unnecessarily because it gave him something to do. He was growing incredibly restless. He had to do _something. _Maybe he would ride it by himself. He was holding the handlebars when he heard his name being called. He turned around to see Eveyln bouncing towards him, carrying something, looking happier then he had ever seen her.

"Guess what!" She practically screamed with such a bright smile on her face that it made Sirius laugh. All of his anxiety seemed to dissipate in a second. Evelyn had finally reached him and she set down the package and wrapped her arms around his neck with such force that he took a staggered step back. They kissed for a long moment then separated, her arms still around his neck, his around her waist. They smiled into eachother's faces and Sirius said:

"You got a guitar?"

Evelyn furrowed her brow for a moment and pursed her lips in surprise but before she could ask how he knew, Sirius bent down and kissed her again because he was so happy she was finally there. He pulled away and said:

"It's sort of obvious with the case."

Evelyn bounced out of Sirius's arms and Sirius was surprised at how annoyed he was by the sudden lack of her.

"It's the one from the store and that man you tried to fight? He's giving me lessons. Either he forgot or he is very forgiving but it doesn't matter." Evelyn smiled as she held the case close to her. "Mine. All mine." She said in a soft voice.

Sirius was sure that it wasn't normal to have a surge of jealousy for an inanimate object, but he did. And he retaliated with:

"I have good news too." Sirius laid a loving hand on his motorcycle.

"It's done?" Evelyn asked her voice higher than normal due to excitement.

"Finished it this morning." Sirius said as he looked it up and down before turning toward Evelyn: "Want to go for a ride?" He asked with a wicked grin that seemed to knock the breathe out of Evelyn's lungs.

She stared down at her guitar, hesitant. She wanted to play it. She wanted to be with Sirius. She wanted to ride the bike. She wanted a lot.

"Oh that's right, your mother forbade you," Sirius continued, trying to hide his grin. It was as good as any sort of charm or potion, Evelyn's face turned into the same of sort of determined look she had when she had broken into the auto-shop. Sirius knew he had her.

"Help me find a place to hide this so we can go," Evelyn said, sad to part with her guitar but happy to be with Sirius. A few weeks ago at the beginning of the summer, Evelyn thought she wanted nothing more then a guitar, that she never would of chosen something else over it. She felt odd about the change in her. But isn't that what summer is for, growing and changing?

* * *

Regulus watched this exchange with a satisfied smirk. Of course there was a girl. He had nearly given up on following Sirius who was boring him to death with his constant attention to his motorcycle and sitting in a cafe. But here was Sirius's secret and she had her filthy muggle arms wrapped around him. Sirius was spending his time with _this. _Some silly muggle girl over his own family. Regulus thought bitterly of the fact that Sirius preferred muggles over his own brother. He felt angry and hurt and with that anger, he acted impulsively.

Regulus ran home as fast as he could and burst into the door screaming:

"Muggle!"

He tore through the house looking for his mother and finally found her in the kitchen, sitting at the table.

"Muggle..." He panted out, out of breath. "Sirius is dating... a muggle. I saw them...snogging."

The teacup his mother was holding fell from her hand. "Muggle?" She asked faintly.

Regulus nodded. "She has short hair and she plays guitar and-" Regulus stopped short, he had just noticed that Bellatrix hadn't yet left and the delighted look on her face was a stark contrast to the one on his mother's.

"I do not care what sort of _muggle_ she is!" Mrs. Black said furiously.

"Oh but I do." Said Bellatrix with a sneer. "I'd love to know what sort of filth Sirius surrounds himself with that destroys our nobility. Do tell, Regulus."

"That's all I know," Regulus said with a gulp. He was beginning to regret this. He was angry and he wanted to get Sirius in trouble but the look on Bellatrix's face made him uncomfortable.

Mrs. Black abruptly left the room with tears in her eyes. Regulus went to follow her and left Bellatrix alone, who was still smiling to herself.

Before he could get out of the door, Bellatrix called:

"Regulus, I want you to take me to where Sirius is with this muggle."

"Why?" Regulus asked while looking at her hand which was inching towards her wand.

"I haven't seen my _dear _cousin my entire visit. I do wish to say goodbye before I leave."

"I expect he'll be home soon," Regulus said vaguely. He didn't really want to be held responsible for whatever punishment was coming to Sirius. He didn't care about the Muggle.

"I will not wait!" She snapped. "Regulus, do not forget the influence and power I have outside of this house. It would be prudent not to cross me. You must do what will make your family proud. Uphold the honor of the family Black unlike your filthy brother."

"I do. Which is why I don't waste my time or energy on Sirius or his little blood-traitor activities." Regulus sneered.

"You will respect me and my wishes," She bellowed at Regulus, pointing her wand at him. "Now bring me to Sirius."

* * *

"Are you sure this will work?" Evelyn asked skeptically as she stared at Sirius who looked perfectly at home on the motorcycle.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Yes. But..." Evelyn lost her train of thought, as she saw Sirius smile widely at her "yes." She laughed, still giddy with excitement and felt herself blush a little.

"It just got done really quickly." Evelyn felt bad about the fact that she didn't think the bike would work.

"James helped a lot." With magic but Evelyn didn't need to know that.

"Oh." Evelyn said her smile faltering for a moment.

"Oh? Did you not like James?" Sirius asked curiously. He wanted to know her opinion.

"I did. He's just...odd. Odd in the same way you are."

"Prongs and I are just a couple of nutters." Sirius said with a smile.

Evelyn returned a weak smile, she couldn't help but to think that maybe they were both insane. "Why do you call him Prongs?" She asked.

Sirius hesitated. He couldn't tell her the real reason. "I dunno. Why does he call me padfoot?"

"I get that one though. Sirius...dog star...padfoot. But prongs? No idea. Though I seem to remember you mentioning something about your friend being a deer at Beth's party."

"I don't remember that," Sirius said quickly. "Are you asking all these questions to avoid getting on?"

"Maybe." Evelyn smiled then she took a deep breath. She hitched her leg over the seat and wrapped her arms tightly around Sirius.

"It helps if you allow me to breathe." Sirius muttered as he shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm _supposed _to take your breath away." Evelyn commented.

"True, but." Sirius kicked the motorcycle on and the engine vibrated underneath Evelyn. "Don't forget your life is in my hands right now."

Evelyn moved closer to him, so that she was pressed up right against his back. And Sirius felt the air leave his lungs again but for a different reason.

"Ready?" He asked, feeling even more nervous though he didn't show it. He never drove before. Not even a car. But he could do it. How hard could it be?

Very hard, Sirius realized as he edged the vehicle forward and felt it sway. The steering, the balancing, the fact that Evelyn was so close to him, it made things very difficult. Sirius felt the bike wobble and he knew what was going to happen before it happened. Without a moment's hesitation he took out his wand and cast a protective charm over Evelyn and then himself, so when it crashed they would both be okay. He didn't care at that moment if he would be expelled or not for using magic with no overage witch or wizard in sight.

Evelyn felt herself tumble off and for a terrible moment was sure she was about to die. But she was miraculously okay save for a couple of scratches and maybe a few bruises.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked, his face worried. Evelyn nodded unable to speak but looked him up and down to be sure he was fine.

"Your arm is bleeding!"

"It's fine," Sirius brushed it off. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes!" Evelyn said impatiently as she reached up to examine his arm. He pulled it away.

"I'm so sorry." Sirius said feeling terribly guilty and knowing that any moment an owl would arrive and things would change forever.

"It's fine but Sirius let me-"

But before Evelyn could finish Sirius bent down and kissed her. It was a strong kiss, the sort of kiss that left the both of them feeling weak and shaky. The sort of kiss that said so much and could be so much more. Evelyn felt dizzy from it, not from the accident but from the lips moving against hers. When they pulled apart, they looked gravely into eachother's eyes and Evelyn felt tears forming from the shock of it all.

"That bad, huh?" Sirius said as he wiped one of the tears away that had fallen from the corner of her eye. Evelyn let out a shaky laugh and wrapped her arms around him more tightly. She was about to say one of the thousands of things on her mind when she heard her name being called.

"EVELYN MORRIS!"

Evelyn nearly fainted. Getting into a motorcycle accident was bad. Somehow having her mother witness it was even worse. Sure enough, there was her mother running across the street looking pale. Evelyn suddenly realized that they hadn't gotten far at all. They were only a block away from the cafe.

Sirius reacted by grabbing his wand and taking a protective stance over Evelyn. When he saw that it was her mother, he felt like he should be the one crying. Everything was crashing down around them.

"Get away from her!"

Sirius obliged and stood up, shaky on his feet and took a step back.

"Are you alright, Evelyn? Oh my god, my child!" Evelyn's mother was crying in earnest.

"Mum, I'm fine. Stop crying."

Sirius didn't hear the rest of the conversation because sure enough here was the owl delivering his letter, warning him about underage magic in front of and to a muggle. It was just a warning though thankfully, not an expulsion. And still thankfully, Evelyn and her mother were too preoccupied to notice.

"Mum, wait. I'm not going to leave him here! He's hurt."

"I don't care what he is! He nearly killed you!"

"But I'm fine! Look! Hardly even scratched. Sirius," Evelyn said turning to him but his back was turned and he wasn't paying her any attention.

"Sirius?" She asked uncertainly.

"You should go," He said gruffly not looking at her.

"See Evelyn? He doesn't even care about you."

"Don't say that!" Evelyn shouted unsure of who she was saying it to. The tears falling from her eyes.

"I _do _care!" Sirius said furiously. He nearly just got himself expelled from school and nearly exposed himself for what he truly was, surely that meant _something_. But he couldn't explain that to either of them. He kicked the overturned motorcycle out of frustration.

"Evelyn, we're leaving. He's acting violent. That's a very disturbed young man."

"No he's not." Evelyn said but her voice broke. Maybe he was. She didn't know. Hadn't she always suspected he was insane? They did meet when he was trying to break into somewhere.

"Evelyn, NOW." Her mother said in such a stern voice that it made Evelyn stop crying.

"Fine," She said her voice shaking, knowing she had to go with her mother.

She looked back at Sirius who stared at her steadily. It was if they were having an entire conversation without words. Evelyn fought the urge to run back to him. Sirius fought the urge to run after her. She turned forward and walked back towards to her mother's car.

"I thought I'd come visit you at work but then I see this." Her mother was still crying. Evelyn wiped the tears from her own eyes and tried to ignore her.

"I have to get something of mine," Evelyn announced as she veered off and picked up her guitar from the place she and Sirius had hid it.

"What's that?"

"A guitar."

"Is it his?"

"No! It's mine. I knew you wouldn't approve so that's why I got a job. So I could pay for it with my own money and take lessons and pay for it without _you." _Evelyn was shaking with rage and still from the accident. She was exhausted but a wave of adrenaline rushed through her.

"I'm not the villian here, Evelyn. I'm just trying to do what's best for you."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!"

"Of course, you're so misunderstood. Well you're right. I don't know you. The daughter I know wouldn't be sneaking around, lying, hiding things, and going into dangerous situations with strange boys. I forbid you from seeing him again."

"What?" Evelyn asked her voice a whisper.

"He's dangerous and he hurt you and I don't want you around him."

"It was an accident, _mother. _I could have gotten just as or even more hurt from falling off a horse. I'm not leaving him." Evelyn said firmly.

"Oh yes you are! Consider this, _daughter. _You say you got a job just to buy and learn the guitar? Well what took you so long? You've been working for weeks. I let you have freedom. And what do you have to show for it? He's been distracting you. You haven't been going to horse lessons, you skive off work to go off with him, It took you this long to do something that is your dream because of _him. _Consider _that_, Evelyn."

Evelyn didn't even realize she was crying until she felt teardrops rolling down her neck. She had a terrible sinking feeling, maybe it was the adrenaline rush wearing off or maybe it was what her mother said or maybe she had too many emotions at once, but Evelyn let out a loud sob and continued to shake.

"_I hate you," _Evelyn said through the sobs.

"I'm sure you do but deep down you know that you _hate_ me because I'm right."

Evelyn let out another sob. "You're not." She said less sure of herself.

"I'll let you keep the guitar and your job and you could shave all of your hair off for all I care. But I insist that you stay away from that boy. He's trouble."

Evelyn wiped the tears out of her eyes and relished in the sinking feeling for a moment. Maybe she was right. Evelyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Fine." She said meekly.

Evelyn kept her eyes closed but opened them when she felt movement beside her. Her mother was reaching out as if to hug her. Evelyn moved away.

"Let me say goodbye to him," She pleaded.

Evelyn's mother stared at her daughter and finally said:

"Okay. I'll wait here while you do so."

"No. Can't you give me just a little bit of privacy? I can walk home. I need a walk to cool off and I'm not injured or anything. Please?"

Maybe it was the urgency with which Evelyn said it or the pained look in her eyes but her mother agreed. So Evelyn walked towards Sirius with a specific thought in mind. Only a few blocks over was another woman with a thought in mind and a boy with too many thoughts to think straight, also heading towards Sirius.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really do hate leaving it on a cliffhanger like that. Especially because I'm in the process of moving so it may be about 2 weeks before I can update again. I'll try to update sooner. I really do feel bad. But I'm extra curious to know what you guys thought of this chapter as it was the roughest to write thus far. I expect the next will be harder...I'm not really helping with this cliffhanger thing, am I? Until next time, and as always thank you SO SO much for reading!


	16. Everything Changes

Sirius had never before in his life had the urge to cry. Now he was fighting off tears with everything he had. He stared at the damaged motorcycle and tried to collect his thoughts. He had used magic. He had used magic on Evelyn. He had gotten a warning and if he performed anything else, he would be expelled. Then what would he do? He couldn't stay home that was for certain. He apparently couldn't make it in the muggle world if he couldn't even build or drive a motorcycle right. And the way Evelyn's mother had looked at him, like she knew he was all wrong.

Evelyn. The thought made the tears come dangerously close to forming. She left. He couldn't interpret what she was thinking. He thought of all that could have happened, if she had seen the owl or him performing the spell. Or worse yet, if she had been hurt. He had the most awful feeling, that he'd never see her again. He couldn't shake it.

He looked down at the bike again and saw that there wasn't much damage. A few dents and scratches but it should probably still run properly. He saw something silver hanging from the handlebar. It was a chain with a small horse pendant on it and he knew that it was Evelyn's. He pocketed it carefully and told himself that he'd give it to her when he saw her again, if he ever saw her again.

* * *

Evelyn walked towards Sirius with a lump in her throat. The words her mother had said about Evelyn being distracted by him were rolling around her head. Evelyn had been thinking it but now that the words had been spoken, they floated in the atmosphere, forcing Evelyn to make a decision. It was as if a switch had been flipped, how quickly the things that had made Sirius charming or mysterious were suddenly foreign and disturbing. Maybe she was better off without him. He came swimming into view, bent over his bike, the setting sun reflected off him and he seemed to shine.

The lump in Evelyn's throat disappeared. She paused and her lungs seemed to deflate, losing all oxygen. She couldn't do it. She couldn't break things off with him. Why had she listened to her mother. Why had she let the things her mother said creep under her skin? Tears swam in Evelyn's eyes for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. She had never had so many conflicting emotions, so much inner-turmoil and she knew she couldn't handle much more.

Sirius looked up to see Evelyn standing there with tears in her eyes, her hair a mess, and one knee of her jeans was torn open. He dropped the parchment he had been rereading onto the bike which lay forgotten and broken at his feet, he jumped over it and rushed towards Evelyn then he paused, hesitating. Why was she looking at him like that?

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"No," Evelyn answered honestly. "I'm here because I was going to tell you that I can't see you anymore. That this," She said, gesturing to him and the damaged bike, '"is over."

"Oh," Sirius said unable to look at her.

"But then I walked over here and you're you and you look like that and I can't." Evelyn took a deep breath. "I can't do it. I don't want to. I don't care what my mum says and I don't care about accidents...and...and I will not, _can _notdo it."

"So now what?" Sirius asked still not able to look at her.

Evelyn took a step forward, reaching her hand out and lightly grazing the wound on Sirius's arm. It wasn't deep nor was it bleeding anymore. Evelyn wiped away a few flecks of dried blood. Sirius finally looked at her as he flinched slightly from her touch.

"Now," She whispered. "Now we figure out what we're going to do,"

As she said this, her hand slid down his arm and into his hand. Sirius looked at their entwined fingers and was moving his gaze back towards his face when he saw something else, just beyond her, that made him drop her hand.

"Get out of here now. Leave!" Sirius said suddenly and urgently.

"What? You mean you don't want to work things out or-"

"Evelyn, please. Run. Leave." Sirius said, beginning to push her slightly, behind him, out of sight, anywhere but here.

"What are you doing?" Evelyn asked angrily. She was infuriated at the way he was pushing her and annoyed at his lack of explanation.

"Protecting you. Please, just-"

"Protecting me?" Evelyn asked with a raised voice. "From what? I'm perfectly capable of-"

"I know you can protect yourself," Sirius roared. Normally her stubborn bravery was endearing but not now. "But there's a time and a place for-" He glanced towards the figures approaching again.

"What do you keep looking at?" Evelyn asked in irritation. She looked and saw a woman, both beautiful and terrifying, followed closely by a teenager who looked a lot like Sirius, and was wearing the same worried expression as him.

"Who are they?" Evelyn asked, suddenly aware of how tense and nervous Sirius was.

"Go. Please," Sirius croaked as Evelyn gazed at him steadily. She seemed to understand finally but as soon as she did, the woman said:

"Hello cousin." She was now right next to them. "Why you're bleeding. You aren't so weak that a little muggle did this to you, are you?" She sneered.

Sirius tried to match the haughty tone of his relative: "No muggle could touch me."

"Not even this one?" Bellatrix asked moving increasingly closer to Evelyn. "According to your brother, there was a lot of _touching." _On the last word, Bellatrix extended a finger and ran it across Evelyn's cheek. Evelyn flinched away from her touch and said:

"Don't you dare lay a finger on me!"

Bellatrix let out an awful laugh: "The muggle speaks to me as if we're equals!"

"Stop calling me that!" Evelyn said facing Bellatrix, standing tall but still smaller then the other woman.

"Sirius, she's brave!" Bellatrix said in mock admiration.

Sirius's attention had been momentarily diverted. He had been staring at Regulus after Bellatrix mentioned "brother." Sirius's angry incredulous stare was challenged by Regulus's unreadable face, his eyes never quite reaching Sirius's eyes. Sirius could not believe that of all people, his brother was the one who had caused all this. The boy was a fool but now Sirius focused on his cousin. She had taken out her wand.

"Well let's see how brave she is against this."

Before Sirius could say anything, Regulus croaked out: "No!"

Bellatrix turned to him in surprise and said: "No?"

"No," His voice was shaking and full of uncertainty. He looked at Sirius and continued: "No, you shouldn't even bother wasting your time or energy on...on," Regulus looked at Evelyn for only a fraction of a second. "It." He concluded.

"You are aware that if your fool of a brother continues on this path, he _will _besmirch the Black family name. Unless you want little half-blood nieces and nephews."

During this exchange, Sirius and Evelyn had moved closer together. Sirius stood in front of her slightly with his hand grasping his pocket. He was in a state of great inner-turmoil. He couldn't use magic or else he'd get expelled. What was he going to do?

"What are they talking about?" Evelyn barely whispered from behind Sirius. She had no idea what they meant about half-bloods or muggles or why the wooden stick she was holding seemed to scare the two boys so much. Evelyn wondered why this woman seemed to hate her in the first place.

Regulus thought of an argument: "What Sirius does is his own decision. There are still plenty of us who uphold the honor of what it means to be a Black. And we shouldn't waste our honor on simple matters such as some useless muggle." His voice was haughty, he meant what he said. He didn't care for Muggles but that didn't mean that he wanted something horrible to happen to Evelyn. He shot a look to Sirius who seemed to understand that Regulus was trying to help the situation.

Sirius moved his hand that had been reaching for his wand back towards Evelyn and it grazed her wrist.

"Run," He breathed, suddenly reminded of the first night he saw Evelyn. He had been attacking the man and she had just stood there until he barked at her, thinking run.

Evelyn thought of this moment too. How she had been confronted by danger and had stood there stupidly but that dog had saved her and now there was Sirius. She backed slowly just a step or two, before turning around and sprinting. She hadn't made it very far before her legs seemed to turn into nothing beneath her and she fell hard. The woman was laughing, the hand with the stick outstretched towards her. Evelyn tried to stand but couldn't.

Sirius was picking himself up after being thrown back by Bellatrix when he had physically tried to stop her since he couldn't magically do so.

"Like she could get away! Sirius, you've spent too much with blood-traitors and muggles. You forget how much power magic gives you. Care for me to remind you?"

"No!" Sirius shouted.

"And what do you think, Muggle? Want to find out how much more power our magic gives us?"

"You're crazy. That doesn't make you powerful at all, that just makes you-" But before Evelyn could finish, the woman said: "Crucio" and Evelyn felt a pain beyond anything she could ever imagine. And she was falling to the ground but she was already on the ground and she thought she heard voices...The pain stopped but she still felt it throughout her body.

When she opened her eyes, Sirius was kneeling down beside her. Evelyn was disorientated, confused, weak.

"What's happening?" She asked. She looked at Bellatrix and just saw pure evil. "What is she?"

Bellatrix laughed her terrible laugh. "Yes Sirius. Tell her what I am. Tell her what _you _are. We have magic. Powerful magic of the purest sort. Magic that allows me to do this: _Crucio!" _

But Evelyn had been prepared for it this time. And though the pain was unbearable she stayed conscious, aware as the pain flowed through her, her mouth open in a scream, tears running down her face.

"STOP!" Sirius bellowed, his wand pointed at Bellatrix but still not using it.

"Afraid to use it in front of your little girlfriend? Scared to see how she'd react?"

Evelyn did not know what was happening but she did know that the stick the woman was holding was the cause to all the pain. And Sirius had one too. He was capable of doing the same thing. He could stop his cousin and he wasn't. She looked at him terrified and Sirius caught her eye. He knew she was scared of him.

Bellatrix aimed her wand at Evelyn yet again.

"Bellatrix, no." Regulus said. "If you kill her then things will just get sloppy." This was more then he could stand. It was the first time he had seen the Cruciatus Curse performed and it was just awful.

On the word "kill" Evelyn let out a little whimper. "Help me, Sirius." She breathed and with the little energy she had, she reached for his hand.

Sirius gave a curt nod, grasped her hand and said: "I won't let her hurt you anymore." He'd have to use his Animagus ability. Maybe it would startle Bellatrix and he could knock her down and break her wand. Just as he was about to, Bellatrix said:

"No, I won't kill her. I have a better idea. I'm just so _touched _by how much they seem to care about eachother. Imagine if one of them couldn't _remember _the other. Now I'll never see the muggle again so it won't nearly be as much fun to watch her pine over someone who doesn't even know her name. Which means," Bellatrix smiled a cruel smile and pointed her wand at Evelyn:

"OBLIVIATE!"

Evelyn's eyes slid out of focus and her mind went blank. An almost peaceful emptying. She felt nothing, she knew nothing.

"No." Sirius said staring at his cousin and then to Evelyn and then back again.

"Let's see. What she would erase and what should we keep? You never met this boy. You have no idea who he is. There is no Sirius Black." Evelyn's unfocused eyes were now looking at Bellatrix but they were blank, emotionless.

"Evelyn," Sirius pleaded and her eyes looked blankly at him. "Fight it. You can fight it."

"Who are you?" She asked in a dull voice.

"And what did Regulus say? You play some instrument? Not anymore. And you're no longer brave. In fact, you're passive, easily controlled, powerless just like all muggles. That's the person you are. Forget the person you were. And none of this ever happened."

Evelyn nodded with a stupid, simple grin on her face.

"Evelyn," Sirius croaked.

She looked at him and giggled: "How do you know my name?"

"Leave." Bellatrix said coldly. "Go home."

Evelyn stood up obediently but then looked around confused before choosing a direction and walking. It was the wrong one.

"Evelyn," Sirius said again and caught up with her reaching his arms out but she just looked at him with a furrowed brow.

"Sorry but what's your name?"

Sirius turned to Bellatrix and said: "Take it back. Put her right again."

"This has been a fun visit _but _I think it's time for me to leave. You were right, Regulus, killing her would have been sloppy. This was much more enjoyable. Thanks for the idea and tell your parents goodbye." And with that, she turned on the spot and disapparated.

Evelyn stared at the spot where the woman disappeared, her eyes still oddly blank. She shook her head and began to walk again, unsure of where she was going.

"This is all your fault!" Sirius said rounding on Regulus.

"I didn't know she was going to do that!"

"She's ruined." Sirius said his voice shaking.

"But, isn't it not so bad?"

"Not so bad?" Sirius growled. "She doesn't know who I am! She doesn't know who she is!"

"But she could have been murdered! Isn't this maybe for the best? It's not like she knew what you were. It couldn't have gone very much further."

Sirius shook his head in disbelief. He started towards Grimmauld place, one final hope in mind. His parents didn't approve but he was their son, wouldn't they help him if they could? If they saw how much this mattered to him?

"Mum!" Sirius panted as he stumbled into the front door. "You have to fix it."

"Fix what?" Mrs. Black asked stiffly, her eyes looking puffy and red.

"Bellatrix performed a memory charm on a muggle. You have to put her right, make her remember."

"I will do no such thing. I do not care for muggles or their memories," Mrs. Black said standing stiffly, looking affronted.

"Then do it for me." Sirius pleaded.

"For you? But you're a pureblood you shouldn't care either. Sirius, it is time you learned-"

'Learned what?" Sirius yelled. "That I hate the lot of you? That you don't give a damn about me or what I believe? That I'm leaving this place and never coming back? Because I've learned that already."

"Le-Leave?" Mrs. Black stuttered, her haughty composure suddenly broken.

"I'm running away and I'm not coming back. You'll never see me again."

"Run away? You'll be disowned, disinherited. I'll...take you off the family tree."

Sirius let out a bitter laugh: "Fine by me. I don't want to be a part of this awful family."

"You're choosing a muggle over your own family?" There was the unmistakeable sound of hurt in her voice.

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "I don't have a muggle to choose anymore. And I don't have a family either since you won't help."

Sirius turned up the stairs and went to his room. He haphazardly threw some of his possessions into his school trunk. He went to stuff something into his pocket when he felt the outline of a thin silver chain. He took out Evelyn's bracelet and stared at it. He couldn't give it back to her, he couldn't stand seeing her like that. The way she had looked at him, terrified and worse yet, the way she had looked at him, not knowing who he was. She had never looked at him as a stranger before, even the first night they talked. He slipped the bracelet back into his pocket and with these thoughts in mind, he closed his trunk and marched out of the door, leaving his family forever.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yes, I know I left with a terrible cliffhanger then took a couple of weeks to update. Sorry about that. But can you blame me? I was delaying putting off this chapter. So dear reader, do you hate me now? What do you think will happen next? Do you think there _is _a next? Let me know! And as always thank you ever so much for reading and reviewing!


	17. After Effects

Evelyn was having the strangest day of her life. First off, she had gotten lost on her way home. Secondly, she had no idea where she was coming home from and lastly, her clothes were dirty and torn and she felt sore all over. Her head felt foggy and strangely empty and she wondered if some terrible thing had happened to her and to save her own sanity, she forgot it. But that was silly what sort of horrible thing could have happened to her?

When Evelyn walked into her house, her mother was there waiting for her.

"Hi mum," She said cheerfully, just happy that she had finally made it home.

Evelyn's mother looked unsure of what to say. "Hello," She said cautiously. "I guess things with that boy went okay,"

"What boy?" Evelyn asked confused.

"Oh. I suppose we're not going to talk about this then." Said Evelyn's mother shortly.

"I reckon we won't, considering I don't know what you're talking about." Said Evelyn with half a laugh.

"I suppose you think I deserve this. That this is your little way of rebelling?"

Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Rebelling against what? What boy was she talking about? But before Evelyn could ask, her mother said:

"Never mind. Go wash, you looked filthier than you did before. "

"Okay." Evelyn said obediently but as she walked towards the bathroom, something caught her eye and she stopped. "Mum, the calendar is wrong."

"What?"

"It's June not August," Evelyn laughed as she flipped the pages back, noticing that there were things written and crossed out, as if already accomplished throughout August and July.

Evelyn's mother stared at her daughter and then comprehended the situation. "I see. You're going to pretend that the boy never existed and whatever you did this past summer never happened? Fine. Go bathe."

Evelyn turned back towards the bathroom and muttered: "Well she's acting rather odd."

When Evelyn woke up the next morning, she felt better. Less sore and less confused. Of course it wasn't June. In June, Evelyn had gotten her job as a waitress and of course that was nearly two months ago. But Evelyn could only remember working a handful of times. She had flashes of serving coffee or food or refilling sugar bowls but that was it.

She set up in bed thinking things through when she noticed something in the corner of her room. A guitar. But how had a guitar gotten there? Was it hers? She couldn't ever remember in her life having the urge to play an instrument. Before she could ponder this, there was a knock at the door. Jessica poked her head inside.

"I can't believe you're still asleep."

"Why? What time is it?"

"Somewhere between lunch and dinner," Jessica said with a smile. "I came over because I got some pictures developed from the other night."

"What night?"

"Beth's birthday party." Jessica said slowly, as if it were obvious.

"Oh." Evelyn said slowly, still unsure. She knew Beth from Equestrian lessons but couldn't remember any party. As far as she knew, Beth would never invite her to a party.

"Don't worry, I don't remember much of that night either," Jessica laughed. "Anyway, I wanted to give you this one."

Evelyn took the photo that Jessica was holding and the first thing that she noticed was herself. The Evelyn in the photo was smiling and looking upwards at the person next to her. Evelyn was sure she had never seen that look on her own face before, it was a sort of content certainty and with a jolt Evelyn realized that the boy next to her was giving her the same look. He was handsome, tall with dark hair, and grinned with an easy-goingness that Evelyn envied.

"He's cute," Evelyn whispered, she had the peculiar feeling that she had walked in on a very private moment made all the worse by the fact that she was the one experiencing it in the photograph. "But I don't know him."

Jessica stared at Evelyn a moment, taking in her friend's honest face, how pale and weak she looked, the fact that she was still asleep in mid-afternoon.

"Oh," Jessica said finally. "You're sleeping in and you..." She hesitated. "I guess that means it's done...I get it. I'll never mention it again."

Evelyn was only half-listening. She looked at the photo again and had the sudden urge to cry. Who was this boy and why was she staring at him like that? Why was he staring at _her _like that?

"Do you want to talk?" Jessica asked kindly. She noticed that Evelyn was being quieter then usual and the Evelyn she knew, would never get teary-eyed from staring at a picture.

"Do you ever feel like...you don't know who you are?" Evelyn asked nervously.

"Only every day." Jessica responded.

"I mean I don't know where time has gone or where I've been or where I'm going. I feel like I lost track of my entire summer and of...people."

Jessica pondered this for a moment. "Well isn't that the whole being a teenager thing? We supposedly have thousands of hormones running through us and one morning we wake up and we're a brand new person and we're confused and angry and whatever else."

"But does it happen all at once like that? You actually just wake up and you're suddenly completely different?" Evelyn asked with such intensity that it scared Jessica.

"That's what they say," Jessica said trying to laugh and failing because Evelyn was making her nervous.

Evelyn just nodded and looked back at the photo, her eyes poring over it as if to find secret messages within the paper. Jessica muttered something about having to go and Evelyn continued to stare at the photo, trying to figure herself out. Trying to figure out who the boy was or where her summer had gone. Was this the same boy that her mother had mentioned? If he had been such a big part of her life, then why couldn't she remember a thing about him?

* * *

"Have you gone daft?" James asked Sirius with a slightly angry expression on his face. "You just left?"

James had been the ideal audience up to this point. He let Sirius tell his story, knowing he could probably only get it out once. And now that Sirius's steady, nearly emotionless account had been interrupted, the emotions came rushing over him and he was almost sure he'd never be able to speak again. He stared at the Quidditch poster on James's bedroom wall and tried to concentrate on it and it alone.

"Wouldn't you?" Sirius stuttered out. "You saw how my family is."

James waved his hand impatiently. "Of course. I don't know why you didn't run away ages ago. But you just left Evelyn there? "

"What was I supposed to do? I...I tried. tried to get my mum to undo it but she wouldn't."

"And your mum is the only witch in London? St. Mungos is in London! That crazy old wizard who lives where you built your bike lives in London!"

"She's a muggle. St. Mungos wouldn't have exactly helped now would it?" Sirius said defensively, he had his reasons for why he didn't do anything but it wasn't something he wanted to share with James.

"They probably would have made an exception. It was spell damage, after all."

"She didn't bloody know who I was!" Sirius snapped. "It's not like she would have followed me anyway."

"You could have done _something." _

_ "_She was _terrified _of me, James." It had finally exploded out of Sirius. "When she still knew who I was. She was terrified. You would have left too if, say Lily, looked at you like that."

James looked as if he was about to make a joke but thought better of it. Finally after a few seconds he said, "She was probably just scared of what was happening to her. Not of you, mate."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Sirius said, knowing deep down that James was right. "Or ever again, for that matter."

"You might have to talk about it once or twice more," James said with an apologetic smile. Sirius just stared at him. "I thought Moony and Wormtail could help cheer you up." James shrugged.

Sirius was slightly cheered at the thought of seeing his friends after their long summer apart. At least he had them. He didn't have a family anymore and he didn't have Evelyn but at least his friends were there for him when he needed them most.

After the arrival of Remus and Peter, Sirius told his story once again but this time with the help of James. When they concluded, the four boys sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Peter was the one who spoke first:

"What was it like watching her, Sirius? I mean to see the Cruciatus curse?" For a moment, Sirius thought he heard awe in his friend's voice.

"What do you think it was like?" Sirius asked irritated. "It was horrible."

James threw Peter a reproachful look and then said: "I still think there is something we could do."

"Like what?" Sirius asked not daring to get his hopes up. He had been thinking it over and he realized he had made a terrible mistake when he had just left her. It was probably too late to do anything.

"I don't know, " Peter said quietly. "Bellatrix is really strong. They say she's right behind you-know-who."

"We don't care about that." James said sternly. "All the more reason to fix this. What do you think, Lupin?"

"Well," He said slowly, looking at Sirius and then looking away. "I think maybe Regulus had a point."

"What?" James and Sirius asked together.

"Well it could have been much worse and let's just think about this for a moment. If you remodify her memory _again, _That's a lot of modification. It could lead to some sort of permanent damage. Even if nothing is just going to remember being tortured and then you're going to have to explain about what you are and she may not accept that."

"Why wouldn't she?" James asked.

Remus gave a small, sad smile. "Because people are usually scared about what they don't know and not everyone is accepting as you three, trust me on that."

"So I'm just supposed to forget that this ever happened? Just go on and leave her to be some shell of the person she once was?" Sirius asked furiously.

"If she's as strong as you say she is, there's a chance she'll regain some of her memory. Just think of all that the poor girl would have to find out in order to fully understand and then what? We go back to school in a couple of weeks. Sometimes people are just better off not knowing the whole truth, especially when it comes to protecting them."

"Are you sure you're still talking about Evelyn here or are you talking about being a werewolf?" Sirius snapped.

"Well are you sure you want her memory back for _her _benefit or is it for yours?" Lupin retorted.

There was one tense moment and then Remus looked up sheepishly and said: "I'm sorry I didn't mean that. And if you have a plan then I'll help."

"Good," Sirius said gruffly. "And I'm sorry too. I shouldn't use the werewolf thing against you."

After a few minutes of a heavy silence, James finally asked the questions on all their minds: "So what are you-we going to do?"

Sirius took a deep breathe and not looking up an barely raising his voice, he said: " I think that there really isn't much I can do for her. So I guess I'll just leave things the way they are now."

Sirius got up and left the room after he said it. He had been fighting tears for days and finally one escaped him now. He wiped it away hastily and thought about Evelyn. About what she was doing and how she was feeling. With a feeling like an anvil falling into his stomach, Sirius realized that whatever she was thinking of, it wasn't him. She wasn't heartbroken at all. Her life could go on without any hesitation or worry. She was free of him and all the excess baggage that came with emotions and Sirius could not help but to feel envy for her condition at that very moment.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hopefully, that last chapter didn't scare some of you dear readers away and you're still here reading this one. If you are, thanks! And hopefully you continue to read because there is still more to this story. Intrigued? Good.


	18. One Year Later

Maybe it wasn't the best idea. In fact, Sirius was sure that it was a bad idea but that wasn't going to stop him. If things went badly, then that was fine. He was fine. He was alive and breathing and better off then he had been. He knew that he had a whole life in front of him but he still found himself looking into the past.

And this is where his past brought him, to the streets that he had haunted the summer before. He almost felt like a ghost as he traced his footsteps and walked into the place that once resembled something of a home.

The cafe hadn't changed in the least. The table that he had always sat at looked the same. And just for a moment, Sirius had the idea that no time had passed, that nothing had changed, that at any moment, Evelyn would walk out and bring him a coffee. He sat at the familiar table and his heart thumped. The restaurant wasn't crowded, only a handful of people.

"What can I get for you tonight?" Said a cheerful voice, a familiar voice.

Sirius looked for the face to match the voice but it took him a moment to find it. It was hidden behind hair, long hair. Sirius had recently cut his own short and it was as if the two switched. But behind the hair was a face. An older, paler, and thinner face. She had the same look Remus had sometimes, worn-down and tired. Her eyes looked different, not the horrible blank stare that he had last seen, but they had lost that sparkle, that spark of mischievous life. They were sad eyes. It was as if Evelyn was trying to overcome this sadness by smiling a wide smile that showed nearly all her teeth but it never reached her eyes. It wasn't Evelyn's smile. The smile faltered:

"Sir?" She asked uncertainly.

"Er, coffee," Sirius said finally.

"Is that all?"

"I need as much as I can get" Sirius said, hoping that perhaps something from the first time they talked would stir her memory. For the second time her smile faltered and her eyes darted wildly for a moment and Sirius recognized it as fear.

"Coffee," He said quickly. "Long Night." He added lamely losing confidence in his plan as Evelyn nodded slightly and no longer looked at him. She walked away to get the coffee pot and Sirius watched her go and muttered: "Long year" under his breathe.

Evelyn returned to pour his coffee and still wouldn't look at him. Sirius stared at the black liquid slowly filling the cup and when it ceased, he softly said:

"Thank you,"

Evelyn finally looked at him and the fake smile was gone. She stared at him for a moment and then she smiled again, only this time there was a trace of Evelyn there.

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else."

Sirius thought there was a lot that he needed from her but that she couldn't give it to him. He drank his coffee slowly, cherishing every moment even if it was nowhere near what he wanted. The group at another table got up and left with a flurry of laughs. Evelyn was walking back towards him.

"How are you doing?" Her smile was less robotic but it still wasn't her.

"About as good as I can expect to be doing."

"Is there anything else you want?"

"No, I suppose I'll be okay with this for now."

Evelyn laughed nervously. "Er, It's just we're closing actually."

"Oh. I thought this place was open all night." Sirius said surprised.

"Yeah it used to be but not anymore."

"Why not?"

"I dunno," Evelyn said looking truly perplexed. "I suppose things just change,"

"They certainly do." Sirius said as he swallowed his last sip.

"I'm sorry" Evelyn burst out suddenly. "But I think I recognize you from somewhere."

Sirius felt his heart hammer violently against his chest. He was almost sure it had made his shirt flutter.

"You do?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Do you know Elizabeth Addison?"

Sirius' heart gave another violent jerk but this one was quite different. It was disappointment.

"No, sorry" He said unable to look at her.

"Oh. I'm sorry to bother you then," Sh began to walk away but stopped. "Are you sure?" She said suddenly again. "It's just I have this picture from my friend Beth's birthday party and you look _so _much like the person in the picture. Although your hair is shorter now. I mean you, your hair is shorter then whoever is in the picture, who is not you apparently. I'm sorry." She said again, feeling embarrassed about her rambling.

"You don't have to apologize," Sirius said kindly. "So you have a picture and it looks like me?" He asked trying to figure out what she was saying.

"Yeah. A picture somebody and me and it's from Beth's party but I don't really remember Beth's party because I was bit drunk so-"

"Beth's party! I know Beth!" Sirius said excitedly, looking at her intently to see if she showed any sign of remembering.

"So it is you! Oh that's such a relief. I've always wondered who the boy in the photograph is. "

"And what exactly are we doing in the photograph?" Sirius asked a bit nervously, he didn't remember much of that night either.

Evelyn had the confused look that Sirius was getting used to seeing on her face. "Um, smiling."

His question had made Evelyn uncomfortable because she herself was often concerned with what was going on in the photograph. She often took it out to stare at it, to decipher the emotions shown on their faces or who the boy was. And now she apparently knew.

"I'm sorry I don't remember your name," Evelyn giggled nervously again. Sirius knew it wasn't like her to giggle so much but he hardly cared. She remembered him. Maybe just a little. Although it hurt him to hear her not know his name, he was still thrilled.

"Sirius," He said quickly.

"Yes, I'm serious. I know it's horrid to not remember someone's name but-"

"No," Sirius laughed. "My name is Sirius."

"Oh." Evelyn said surprised and again that same confused look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure I know my name," He smiled.

"Of course," She laughed. "It's just I thought I'd remember someone named Sirius."

"That's all I could hope for," Sirius said in a hopeful, sad voice.

"So how have you been?" She asked sweetly. "It's been a year I guess, hasn't it?"

"Not one of my better years," Sirius said honestly.

"No, not one of mine either," Evelyn said and all traces of a smile, fake or real, disappeared from her face.

"Yeah?" Sirius said softly. "Why is that?"

"Um," Evelyn looked slightly fearful again and when the door to the restaurant opened she jumped. When she looked at the boy who entered, she blushed and said:

"Oh! Hello, you're early."

"No, you're five minutes late," The boy answered.

Evelyn looked at her watch and then at Sirius. "Right you are! Sorry," She said to the boy.

When Evelyn turned back towards Sirius, he saw a glimpse of the Evelyn that he knew. She smiled at him. A real genuine Evelyn smile and she said:

"Well, It was good to see you Sirius."

"Yeah, it was good to see you too." Sirius stared at Evelyn so intensely that Evelyn felt herself blush. She had seen that look. It was the same look from the photograph.

Evelyn turned away abruptly, unable to look at him and walked towards the other boy. He wrapped his arm around her as soon as she got near and glared at Sirius before leaning down to kiss Evelyn.

Sirius clenched his jaw but refused to avert his gaze. After the kiss, the boy began to lead Evelyn towards the door but she turned her head to look at Sirius again.

"Have a good life, Eve." Sirius said softly.

Evelyn stopped and turned to suddenly that she nearly lost her balance.

"What did you say?" She asked fiercely and for a moment, she was all Evelyn, the real Evelyn.

"I said have a good life," Sirius said carefully.

"Oh," It was as if she had put on an invisible mask and she was suddenly new Evelyn again. "I thought you said something else."

"He did," Said the other boy as he tightened his grip around Evelyn's shoulders.

"I called you Eve," Sirius said, looking at Evelyn and only Evelyn.

The confused look was once more on her face.

"Why though? No one calls me that,"

"I do," Sirius said with a smile.

"But I hardly know you," Evelyn whispered, undone by the way her stomach had flipped when the strange boy had smiled at her.

"I think you should leave her alone," Evelyn's boyfriend said.

"It's fine," She said to him, not wanting to cause any trouble.

"It's not fine. You're trembling. He's obviously scaring you."

Evelyn hadn't even noticed that she was trembling but when she looked at her hand, she saw her fingers shaking. Sirius bit his lip to hold himself back as soon as the other boy had mentioned Evelyn being fearful of him. He wondered if some part of her did remember him, the part of her that was scared.

"I'm not frightened, " Evelyn lied. Evelyn wasn't sure what she was feeling. "We should go."

Evelyn looked at Sirius for one last time and her stomach flipped yet again.

"Goodbye Sirius"

"Goodbye Evelyn" He said so softly, that she could hardly tell if he said it all.

And for the second time, he watched her go and did not stop her. At least this time he knew she would be okay. As okay as this second-rate, shell of the Evelyn he knew could be. And just like he had thought as his evening had begun: This had been a bad idea.

* * *

**Author's Note: **When I first starting writing this story and planning it out, this was my last chapter. A sort of epilogue. But I knew even then that I wouldn't be able to let go yet so keep reading. And thank you as always for reading thus far :)


	19. The Head in the Fire

Sirius Black leaned backwards on his chair and balanced on the two back legs as he let out a yawn so long, he felt like his jaw might break. He rubbed his eyes after, utterly exhausted. Technically he could be sleeping at this very moment, but he knew that he was so tired and the chances of waking up in a couple hours for the Order of the Phoenix meeting were slim to none. Try as he may, he couldn't regret the fact that he had lost valuable sleep time by visiting James and Lily in their new home. Sirius stared at the wall as he contemplated the newlyweds. On one hand, he was thrilled. He had never seen either of them more happy. One the other, he couldn't help feeling a bit of a loss, like he had lost part of James, like he had lost a part of the life he might of had. It was moments like these that he hated the most, when things were calm, when he wasn't working with the Order, the moments in which he could think about his life.

His thoughts were cut short by another wizard walking into the room. The wizard stopped suddenly, surprised to see Sirius there, but quickly composed himself.

"Guess I'm not the only pulling an all-nighter."

"Busy over at the ministry?" Sirius asked.

The wizard sat down and ran his hands through his hair and stifled a yawn: "You wouldn't believe. There have been four muggle attacks this week alone and it's only Wednesday."

The wizard shook his head and hesitated unsure of whether to continue. Sirius would find out eventually, he was in the Order after all and surely the wizard would have to mention it the meeting in a few hours.

"We're beginning to think your cousin has been involved with a few of the attacks" He finally said, carefully watching for Sirius's reaction. Sirius let out something like a snort and said shortly:

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time."

A silence fell between the two men, both trying to not think of the War and it's effects. Both fell into a sort of stupor when suddenly a burst of flames startled them back to consciousness. A distraught looking head appeared in the fireplace.

"Ah good," The head said as he spied the wizard across from Sirius. "I need you again. We have another and this one's a real mess. Muggle girl and I'm afraid she's quite mad. Rambling about a woman and a photograph and something about a musical instru-"

The head stopped speaking and appeared to turn around. "One moment!" It said tersely. "There's no need to...Oh fine." The head turned back towards the wizard and said: "Come now!" Before disappearing with a little pop.

The head in the fireplace and the wizard were both too preoccupied to notice how Sirius's chair had fallen back into a normal position with all four legs firmly on the floor, nor how Sirius was suddenly standing with his fists clenched at his side. Sirius hadn't noticed either, he was in a daze of exhaustion, fear, and something like hope. He came to as he saw the wizard standing up as a tiny beep emitted from the wizard's wrist.

'Well, I suppose I better be off-"

"I'm coming with you," Sirius said, cutting him off.

"Coming with me?" The wizard asked in bewilderment. "But the meeting-"

"Is two hours away. Let's go! Why are we wasting time?"

"I don't understand."

"I.." Sirius thought quick. "I have to do something or else I'll fall asleep and miss the Order meeting." It was weak, he had to admit, but he was in no condition to be making up lies.

The wizard stared at Sirius for a moment, unsure of what was happening. Sirius scared him a little bit, he scared all of them. He came from such a bad family and he occasionally got a wild look in his eye, like the one on his face right now. He was irrational, reckless and had a frightening temper. A temper that the exhausted Wizard could not handle at that moment, so he gave a tiny nod and took hold of Sirius's arm so that they could apparate.

The two wizards were suddenly standing in a tiny room that was filled with dust. There was hardly any furniture but many pieces of paper were strewn everywhere. The older wizard's head, now firmly attached to a body, looked at Sirius curiously.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying out some new jobs, you know, I'm young. Seeing what's out there," Sirius said distracted as he glanced around the room. "Where are we?" He asked.

"In the Muggle's flat,"

Sirius was going to ask how they had gotten there but truthfully he didn't care. All he cared about was if his suspicions were right. Was he going crazy? Was he grasping on some insane hope because he had been thinking about love?

"Is the muggle in there?" Asked the Order wizard, pointing towards a door.

He opened the door and huddled in the corner of the bedroom was a young woman, her face hidden. She looked ill, pale and skinny. So it surprised all three men, how powerfully she screamed:

"Leave me alone! I know what you are. Just leave! I won't let you hurt me!"

"We're not trying to hurt you, we're just trying to understand-" One of the Ministry workers started.

But the girl interrupted: "Understand?" She let out a horrible laugh and the for the first time turned to face the men. It seemed impossible for her to get any paler, but she did.

"You!" She screamed as she pointed towards Sirius.

"What is going on here?" One of the other wizards asked as he looked between the girl and Sirius.

Without thinking, Sirius shoved the two wizards into the other room, slammed the door, and performed a spell to keep it locked. Sirius turned towards the girl, wand in hand, and stared at her. Underneath the circles under her eyes, the dirty hair, the gaunt face, the premature wrinkles, he could see her. She looked much too old but as she stared at his wand, shaking and asking:

"What are you going to do to me?"

Sirius could hear underneath the tiny, shaking, scared voice something much more fierce and strong waiting to escape.

And he knew. Just as he had known since the moment the head in the fire had mentioned it. The girl was Evelyn.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Um, Hi! I totally never meant to disappear off the face of the planet like that. I just got busy and a little unsure of where to go with this story. But the good news is that in those few months, I decided to go in a different direction in this story. I'll try not to disappear again! Thank you SO much to all my readers. I read every review and message and always felt guilty about not updating, so thank you, this update is for you! (If you're still around haha).


	20. Explanations

Sirius kept his distance from her and slowly put his wand back in his pocket, trying not to alarm her. Evelyn had stared at him for a few moments with a crazed look in her eyes before wrapping her arms around her knees and rocking back and forth. Sirius couldn't be sure, but he thought she was crying.

He ignored the frantic knocking on the other side of the door and bent down so that he was level with Evelyn but still at a distance from her.

"Evelyn?" He said softly.

"Get away from me!" She screamed back. "Don't...don't do whatever it is that you people do."

"I wouldn't do that to you, Eve. Look, I promise" Sirius said as he took the wand out of his pocket and threw it on the other side of her bedroom.

She looked up at him as he called her Eve. Her lip was trembling as she asked:

"Why did you call me that?"

"Because I've always called you that. I know how much it bothers you."

For a moment every ounce of anxiety and fear left Evelyn's face as she gave Sirius a look that he had seen on her face so many times before, a look that showed she wasn't amused by his antics. He almost wanted to laugh with joy but he composed himself.

"Which given the circumstance, I guess isn't very nice of me."

Evelyn felt tears swimming in her eyes, this was too much for her. These kind of things had always been too much for her. She was so fragile, maybe she really was better off...No. Not that. Never again.

"What do you want from me?" Evelyn asked with every ounce of strength she had.

There was a knocking on the other side of the door.

"Well," Sirius said standing up. "I want them gone and I think you do too."

"Who are they? What do they want with me?" Evelyn asked.

"Well," Sirius thought for a moment. He hadn't the slightest clue where to begin. "we'll get to that later. But you have to trust me."

Evelyn stared at the young man before her. He was handsome, he was tall, he was apparently strong, and he was the boy in the photograph, only older and more worn. Could she trust him? He was kneeling by her side again and Evelyn felt herself flinch away.

"Do you trust me?" This near stranger asked Evelyn. She did know his name. He had told her his name in the cafe that one time. As far as Evelyn knew, she had only been around this strange man three times, once in the photo, once in the cafe, and now, when he appeared out of thin air.

"No." She answered truthfully and whatever strength that was left in her face broke and she looked like a terrified child.

Sirius grew increasingly frustrated. He didn't know what he could do for her. The only thing he did know was that seeing her like this was horrifying.

"Do you remember anything about me?" Sirius's answer was immediate as Evelyn began to shake her head more vigorously. "Eve, Try. Please"

On the word "Eve," She looked at him, searching his eyes. They were complex in person and as she stared into them she heard herself say:

"You're the boy in the photograph. Your name is Sirius and...and" Evelyn closed her eyes tight. Sometimes, as she just woke or as she fell asleep, she had a sort of vision, maybe a nightmare. But she was so sure it had to do with this boy. But as she closed her eyes, she remembered the same scene, the one she was always remembering. All she could remember. She was sixteen and in the park and someone was trying to rob her.

"And the stupid dog!" She spit out, frustrated at her own inability to remember.

"What?" Sirius asked, his whole body tense.

"Nothing. I was 16 and there was a dog and it's nothing. But it's the last thing I remembered before it all got..." Evelyn stopped, not willing to admit any more.

"In the park." Sirius said quietly. "You saw a dog and a man tried to hurt you. So, you hit him and then a dog attacked him. Chased him halfway around the park," Sirius added with a slight laugh.

Evelyn stared at him in shock for a second before the commotion on the other side of the door became louder.

"Look, you are have to trust me. I know this is a lot to handle right now. But at one point in your life. For one summer, you trusted me. I won't ask you to remember, I know you can't. But you trusted that dog and that means you can trust me. So, when those other two men walk in here. I want you to pretend that we all fixed your toilet because it was leaking, do you understand?"

"No," Evelyn said her whole body shaking.

"Just try, please. I'll explain everything soon." Sirius himself was this close to breaking. "Leaky toilet?"

"Leaky toilet." Evelyn repeated unsteadily.

Sirius stood, hesitated for a moment, and then walked out to face the men on the other side.

The two wizards were both infuriated and for a few confusing seconds, screamed obscenities at him.

"And what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" One finally asked.

"Figuring out her story," Sirius said defiantly. "Judging by her reaction when she saw me, I had the feeling that my cousin Bellatrix had something to do with what happened to her. We do look alike at times," Sirius said dryly as both of the wizards were silenced. "From what I can make out, Bellatrix attacked the muggle, perhaps tortured her, and then performed a memory charm, so the muggle had no recollection. Only," Sirius hesitated, "Perhaps the spell wasn't effective or perhaps seeing Bellatrix set off a strong reaction in her without the muggle quite knowing why."

Sirius had the distinct impression that the reason Evelyn remembered had everything to do with him. Or maybe he just wanted her to remember because of him. He said this all calmly, trying to sound almost bored although his every nerve was aware of Evelyn on the other side of the door, perhaps seconds away from danger.

"Well that's just great," Said one of the ministry wizards angrily. 'Now, let us do our jobs."

"No." Sirius said forcefully. "Given the nature of the attack, she is very distrusting of wizards. I think the only reason I got her story was because of my slight resemblance to my cousin, so I was familiar. I preformed a memory spell. Thinks we were all here to fix her toilet. You can check if you want."

The wizards pushed their way through the door and to her everlasting credit, Evelyn was standing there, a picture of calmness.

"Oh, hello." Only Sirius could hear the shaking in her voice. "Did you forget something in the loo? I can't thank you enough, that damned thing has been leaking for weeks."

"No ma'am. Have a good day now." Sirius's fellow Order member said before they bowed out the door.

"What sort of tricks are you trying to play?" The other wizard yelled in an outrage. "This is a big problem. You are-"

"Given the nature of things recently," Sirius said cooly. "Is this truly a big problem? Shouldn't we be worried about more important things then mentally deranged muggles?"

Both of the wizards said nothing. The angry one took off in a huff.

Sirius stared at his fellow Order member who began to speak:

"I know that you are stressed but this is no way to behave. This could have been dangerous for all of us. Stop being so impulsive. You'll get us all killed."

The man apparated, likely back to the Order meeting. The very place Sirius was expected to be. The very place he should be. But Sirius knew the place he should be, he had to be, he wanted to be, was with the sobbing girl on the other side of the door.

So with that thought in his mind. He opened the door, walked straight into the girl's kitchen, put on the kettle, and got out some tea before he turned to face the girl. Once again Sirius was impressed by how brave she was. She still had the courage of the old Evelyn despite how badly shaken up she was. He sat on her shabby couch and took a deep breath

"Well, I suppose it's time I tell you everything. But where to start? I guess I should tell you who I am because that's the most complicated bit and the rest of my story, your story, our story really won't make sense unless you know. My name is Sirius Black and I'm a wizard..."


End file.
